Reuniting
by jojor99
Summary: Harry and Ginny were separated when Ginny had to move to the other side of the world for two years. Unfortunately, their relationship just couldn't cope with the distance and their work. What will happen when Ginny comes home?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: As per normal - a huge thanks to mew-tsubaki for the beta work on this, and for reading Harry/Ginny when it's not really your thing!

This was a little idea that came to me one night that I've been working on for a while now. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Chapter 1

Harry opened the door of the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking forward to a good lunch after all of the debriefing and paperwork he had been doing since the early hours of that morning. The pub was fairly busy with a lunchtime crowd, but he managed to find a spare table and quickly ordered the lunchtime special. As he waited for his food to be served, Harry looked around to see if there were any familiar faces in the crowd. The door of the Leaky Cauldron opened as he was looking in that direction, and his best friends Ron and Hermione walked in. Harry smiled as he saw them. It had been ages since he had seen them. Ron had obviously spotted him straight away, as he grabbed Hermione's hand and almost dragged her towards him.

"Hey, mate!" greeted Ron, slapping him on the back.

"Hi," replied Harry. He then stood up and gave Hermione a hug.

"How are you? You were away for a while. It seems like ages since we last saw you," said Hermione.

"It was a long and torturous trip. But we got them, eventually," replied Harry.

"Why is it always you going off on these missions? Surely there are some younger Aurors now that could be out there," said Ron.

"There are, but this one needed a little more experience," Harry said.

"Rubbish!" exclaimed Hermione. "You volunteer yourself for all these missions, don't you?"

Harry took a long sip from his butterbeer, trying not to have to answer the question.

"Why in the name of Merlin would he do that to himself?" asked Ron.

Harry watched Hermione try to answer Ron without actually saying anything. Ron just looked at her strangely.

"What are you trying to say, Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Ronald!" whispered Hermione, viciously.

"You can say her name if you want to," muttered Harry.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Ronald, he's keeping himself busy. That's why we haven't seen him since March," said Hermione.

"Oh. Right," said Ron. "It's been ages, mate. I think we've only seen you two or three times since Christmas. Hanging out with George isn't quite the same. And George really misses hanging out with you, too."

Harry stared at Ron. He had missed spending time with his two best friends. He just could not cope with them looking at him sympathetically and asking him what had happened with Ginny at Christmas. That had meant that he had distanced himself from the entire Weasley family and had buried himself even more in his work.

He had worked so much lately that he had been offered the position of head of the Auror Office. Usually it would mean that he did not have to go off on many missions, but he could not bear staying in the office with his thoughts too much, so he kept going off on missions and left all the paperwork to someone else. Between lengthy missions, training Auror recruits, developing a new training program, and paperwork, it did not leave him much time to do anything else except eat and sleep and occasionally exercise.

"Harry, what did happen at Christmas?" asked Hermione carefully.

"Hermione…"

"Look, Harry, she'll be back soon. Her contract in Australia is nearly finished and she's definitely coming home. I heard Mum talking to Dad about it. Surely things can be sorted out?" said Ron.

"Doubt it. Look, I really don't want to talk about this. I guess it just wasn't going to work out. Two years is a long time to be apart like that. I guess she's happy. I haven't even heard from her in ages," said Harry.

"Well, mate. Why don't you come and have dinner at the Burrow? Mum and Dad would love to see you. Hermione and I will be the only ones there. How about it?" asked Ron.

"I don't know…"

"Harry. Come on. Please. We've all really missed you. It'd be nice to catch up in a more relaxed place," said Hermione.

"Better food, too," said Ron. "What do you say?"

"Maybe," said Harry.

"Well, I guess that's better than no," said Ron.

"Please try, Harry," said Hermione as she stood up. "We've got to go. We'll see you tonight. Okay?"

Harry watched them leave the pub. Maybe he should join them tonight. It would be better going to the Burrow before Ginny came home. He still missed Ginny terribly and he knew that he still loved her, and that there would never be anyone else like that for him.

Xx-H&G-xX

The years after the Final Battle had been up and down for Harry. Work wise, things had been great. He went straight into the Aurors in the September following the battle and had never looked back. He loved the training, the missions, and as long as there was not too much, he put up with the paperwork.

His relationship with Ginny had seemed to be great, too. Even though Ginny had another year of school, they had managed to see each other and write to each other as much as possible. It had been fantastic when Ginny finished Hogwarts and had started playing Quidditch professionally for the Harpies. They managed to spend a lot of free time together in between his missions and her training and games. Their relationship had progressed to the point that Harry had even talked to Arthur Weasley about marrying Ginny. He was planning to propose to her on her birthday. That was when things had started to slide.

Ginny had come home to his flat after a special team meeting with some depressing news. The Harpies had struck a deal with an Australian Quidditch team to trade Chasers for two seasons. The decision on which Chaser would be traded was still up in the air but Ginny knew that one of the other Chasers was not going to be considered for family reasons. So there was a fifty percent chance that she would be the one that would have to go. Harry decided not to worry about it until the decision had been made. Four weeks later, Ginny appeared at his flat in tears. She had to move to Australia. She still had two years on her contract and breaking it would end her career in Quidditch, and possibly in many other fields.

Harry and Ginny spent the few weeks left together talking about how they would survive this hurdle. Ginny had to be in Australia by the first of August, which meant she would have to leave on Harry's twentieth birthday. Harry told Ginny he would come and visit her in Australia when he was able to get time away from his work. Ginny knew she would be able to come back for Christmas each year. They told each other repeatedly that it would be all right and that the time would fly by.

The first year was okay. Harry managed to visit Australia twice before Christmas and another time early on the next year. Then his work started to interfere. There had been a large group of Dark wizards terrorising the whole of Europe and Harry was appointed head of one of the teams hunting them down. This meant that he was only able to see Ginny for one very short week between March and the following Christmas. Ginny had managed to come home for her twentieth birthday but Harry had been called away on the third day of her visit and she had returned to Australia before he had come home. They had written to each other as much as possible but the time between letters grew longer and longer.

Last Christmas, Harry had been keenly looking forward to Ginny coming home. He knew there was little chance of being called away as most of the Dark wizards had been captured by then. So, he hoped they would have a very happy three weeks together catching up and just spending time together. This had not happened, though. They were unusually uncomfortable around each other which was not helped by all the Weasleys being there too. Not long before she had to leave, Ginny had pulled Harry aside and had said to him that if he met someone else he should act on it and go out with them.

Harry thought about this for the next week or so, and the only conclusion that he could draw was that Ginny had found someone else and she was trying not to hurt him too much.

From then on he had buried himself in work. He had devised a new Auror training program and had doubled the number of teaching sessions he took. Any mission that came up, he was the first person to volunteer. Kingsley had tried to get him to take some time off and go away for a holiday, but he had refused. He could not go and visit Australia and see Ginny happy with someone else, and he could not go anywhere else because he knew he would just spend all of the time thinking about Ginny.

Ron and Hermione had become engaged at the end of February. They had made him go to their engagement party, for which Ginny had been unable to return home. That had been the last time that he had seen any of the Weasley family until today when he saw Ron and Hermione.

Xx-H&G-xX

Harry thought that he had done more than enough paperwork that day. He was tired and hungry. He contemplated going and getting some takeaway but then he envisioned a Molly Weasley dinner and knew that was a much better option. Plus, he really did want to see Ron and Hermione again. Seeing them earlier that day had made him realise how much he had missed them.

It was late afternoon when Harry Apparated to the Burrow. He had almost forgotten how relaxing and beautiful it could be there. He walked through the gate and towards the door, feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time.

He knocked on the door and waited. Molly's head appeared around the door and he was immediately enveloped in an enormous hug.

"Harry! It has been far too long. Come in and sit down. Ron and Hermione are here. They said that you might come. I'm so glad that you have," said Molly.

Harry felt himself being hugged and dragged into the kitchen where Ron, Hermione and Arthur were seated. The three of them broke into huge smiles upon seeing Harry. Hermione jumped up and hugged him nearly as fiercely as Molly had done.

"Just as well, Harry," she whispered. "I was almost ready to come and find you and force you here. Everyone has missed you so much."

"I've missed you lot, too, you know," Harry replied in a low voice. "It just hasn't been the easiest of years."

"Oi. Potter. That's my girl you're hugging there," said Ron, chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah. I just need to give my adopted sister a long overdue hug," replied Harry.

Hermione hugged him again and when she pulled away he could see tears flowing down her cheeks. "Well you had better make sure that it's nowhere near as long before the next one."

"I'll try," he replied.

"Nicely saved, Potter!" joked Ron.

Harry laughed at Ron and at the same time looked around the Burrow. It looked and smelled the same as he remembered. He found himself sitting at the table with a delicious roast dinner placed in front of him.

"See. I told you the food's better here," said Ron.

"You don't have to tell me that. The food's always better here," replied Harry.

"Thank you, Harry. There's treacle tart after this. Dig in. Though I must say, even though we haven't seen you in a long time, it's good to see that you've been looking after yourself, and you're not skin and bone. Every other time that you've been away for a while I've had to feed you up," said Molly.

"Yeah. I can't afford not to eat with work. Kreacher has been keeping me fed and generally has been looking after things," said Harry.

"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "Elves shouldn't be…"

"Oh, give him a break, Hermione. Kreacher loves it. What else would he do?" interrupted Ron.

"As long as someone is keeping you well," said Molly.

"Harry, how did the last mission go? Kingsley said to me last week that it was taking longer than expected," said Arthur.

"It was pretty horrible, really. I can't remember how many different countries that I followed that guy through. I couldn't just capture him straight away; we wanted to get his cohorts, too. He was pretty sneaky but I eventually got him and a couple of others in Albania, of all places. It gave me shivers thinking about Voldemort being there not that long ago," said Harry.

"Who was it?" asked Hermione.

"I can't say just yet. Not until the trial comes up," replied Harry, as he looked around at the interested faces.

"Oh, right. Of course," said Arthur.

"Did he try and hurt you?" asked Molly with concern.

"No. Nothing major; no Unforgivables. He didn't actually get me with anything. He was just really hard to track. The only time he tried to jinx me was when I cornered him."

"From what I've heard at the Ministry, I wouldn't want to go near you in a duel. I hear none of the Aurors will duel you anymore," stated Arthur.

Harry looked at Arthur carefully. He was not sure if Arthur thought that was a good or bad thing. Seeing the smile in the older man's eyes he knew he could reply safely.

"I've been keeping myself busy training and so on," said Harry.

"Probably all day and night," muttered Ron.

"Not all night," said Harry. "I do sleep - quite well actually."

"That's not surprising with everything that you've been doing," said Arthur.

"Mmm," muttered Molly, looking slightly worried.

"I've also heard on the grapevine that Kingsley has offered you the …"

Harry looked at Arthur, wondering why he had stopped talking. He did not mind every one knowing about his new position, but he would have probably preferred to let everyone know himself. Arthur was looking at the fireplace, which had started glowing green. Suddenly a letter came flying through the Floo and into the kitchen. Molly hopped up and picked it up from the floor.

"It's from Ginny," stated Molly, looking at the envelope and then at Harry.

"Well, open it, then," said Arthur.

Harry watched Molly read Ginny's letter. She seemed to be happy with the contents of the letter, as a huge smile spread across her face.

"She's coming home. For good, she says. On the twenty-fifth," said Molly.

"That's in two days," said Hermione.

"No wonder the letter came through the Floo," said Ron. "She'd be home before the owl got here."

"What does she say, Molly?" asked Arthur.

"Oh, she says:

_Dear Mum and Dad, _

_I'm coming home. The season is over. We made the playoffs, but lost in the semi-final, so I'm now able to come home. I haven't finalised a new contract with the Harpies but I don't have to stay here. I've organised an International Portkey and I'll arrive on 25 July at 3pm. It would be great if some of you could meet me there. I've missed you all so much. I hope you don't mind me staying at the Burrow until I organise somewhere else to live. I'm really looking forward to a nice family dinner. It's been too long. See you very soon. _

_Love, Ginny."_

"Excellent," said Arthur and Ron at the same time.

"Oh, it will be so good to have her home," said Molly.

Harry did not know what to say. He looked around the table and he stopped when he got to Hermione because she was staring at him somewhat strangely.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

"I guess," Harry replied.

"You want to see her, don't you?" asked Hermione.

"Well, yeah. It'll be weird though, especially as everyone will be watching us," said Harry.

"I guess it will be awkward. I'm sure everything will work out, though. You guys are meant to be together," said Hermione.

"Time will tell," said Harry. He then decided that it was time to stop that particular conversation with Hermione before it became too complicated. "Molly, did you say there was treacle tart?" he asked.

Molly looked at him and laughed. "There is. I'll just go and get it, shall I."

The five of them finished the dinner talking about safe things, mainly George's shop where Ron was now a partner. After he had finished his second piece of treacle tart, Harry decided that it was time to leave and let the rest of them discuss Ginny's letter properly.

"You don't have to leave just yet, dear," said Molly.

"I know, but I still have heaps of paperwork to do from the last mission, so I had better head off," he replied.

"You're not doing it tonight, are you?" asked Hermione.

"No. I just need to get some sleep," Harry said.

"When will we see you again? It had better not be another four months," said Ron.

"No it won't be. I promise," he said.

"We'll hold you to that," said Hermione.

"Harry, will you be there to meet Ginny?" asked Arthur quietly.

"Um …"

"We know that something happened between you but you're part of the family and I'm sure she'd love to see you. We've really missed you around here this year. She has asked about you in her letters. Please?" said Molly.

"I'll try," said Harry.

Xx-H&G-xX

Harry had not planned on going to meet Ginny. He had spent the previous day and that morning telling him that it was not a good idea to meet her when she arrived home. Most of her brothers and their partners would be there to meet her as well as Molly and Arthur. It would only cause awkwardness for himself, Ginny and probably everyone else if he was there.

So why was he here, at the International Portkey Station, at three in the afternoon? To torture himself probably, he thought. He was actually running a little late. She should have arrived by now. As he walked around a corner, he spied most of the Weasley family gathered around talking presumably to Ginny. Just then Ron and Hermione moved allowing Harry to see Ginny. Harry's heart started thumping in his chest at the sight of her.

At that moment, someone must have noticed him because George was running towards him with a huge smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thanks to mew-tsubaki for the beta work. :)

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Ginny was looking forward to going home, but she was also very nervous. She had basically enjoyed the two years in Australia. It had been a huge shock to her that she'd been required to move to the other side of the world for two years. The worst part was being away from Harry, again. They vowed that they would write to each other regularly, and would see each other when they were able. The first year away had been fine. They had written weekly and seen each other a few times. She had spent most of her spare time training or reading up on plays. Sometimes, she did a little sightseeing, but she had saved a lot of that for when Harry visited.

The second year had been harder. Harry had to spend much more time on missions, which meant that he had not been able to visit or write as much. She still got letters from her parents and sometimes from her brothers, which meant she could keep up on all of the family news. Hermione had written to her not long before she was coming home for Christmas and had said that Harry had become distant and awkward around her and Ron and had not been spending much of his free time with them as he had done previously. Her mum had mentioned that Harry had not been around as much as usual, as well. This had been a little disturbing for her because it had started her thinking what Harry had been up to. On her visit home at Christmas, things with Harry had been tense and awkward, which had made her wonder if he wanted to be with her any more. She then decided, reluctantly, that she should give Harry the chance of a little freedom. She told him that if he met someone that he liked, she did not mind if he acted on it. It had killed her to say this to him because it was the very last thing that she wanted him to do. But she had to give him the choice and the chance to be with whom he wanted. She had not heard from Harry again.

She heard from her family that Harry was away on missions most of the time and that they had not seen him since Christmas. Ron and Hermione got engaged and had insisted that she come to their engagement party, but she managed to come up with a solid reason why she could not go. After that, Harry was barely mentioned by anyone who wrote to her, even if she asked after him in her letters home.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

The Portkey had brought her to the International Portkey Station on time, but now all of the paperwork seemed to be taking forever. Ginny just wanted to get through those doors, meet her family and go home. She was really looking forward to being at the Burrow and being able to enjoy her mum's delicious cooking.

Eventually, all of the paperwork was completed, and she had found all of her luggage, which was loaded onto a trolley. It was time to head home.

As she pushed the trolley through the door, she wondered if Harry would be there with her family to greet her. Considering that he had not written to her in over six months, she doubted it.

The first person she saw was Ron, who was happily grinning at her. He was soon pushed away by her mother who quickly threw her arms around her and squeezed her so tight that she could barely breathe. Once her mother let her go, Ginny was able to greet her dad, who gave her an enormous hug. She was then greeted by her brothers, whom had all made the effort to come and meet her. Bill engulfed her in an enormous hug, which was then repeated by Charlie, who had come from Romania for her homecoming. Percy gave her a kiss on the cheek and a brief hug. George picked her up and swung her around before hugging her tightly and whispering in her ear that he was very glad she was home. Ron and Hermione hugged her together and held her close for ages. Finally, Fleur came and gave her a kiss on each cheek before giving her a quick hug.

After the entire family had hugged her, they milled around and Ginny took the opportunity to look at her family.

"Oh, it's so good to be home," she said finally.

"Ginny, dear, we're all so glad you're finally here for good," said her mum with tears running down her cheeks. Ginny moved closer to her mum and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

After hugging her mum, Ginny walked closer to Hermione and wondered how she could casually ask about Harry without making a great deal about it. Hermione was looking at her with a knowing smile on her face.

"He said he'd try to get here," whispered Hermione.

"Who are…"

"You and I both know who you're looking for," Hermione said.

Ginny did not know how to reply to Hermione, so she moved back towards her parents. Ron and Hermione also moved, but over towards Bill who was talking quietly to George. Ginny watched George as he looked up and stared right past her, suddenly smiling. She wondered what could cause him to look so excited, until he yelled out.

"Harry!" George exclaimed.

Ginny watched George race towards Harry and hug him as if he had not seen him in years. Harry started walking towards them all, talking animatedly to George. Ginny took the opportunity to look at him. He was looking really good. He seemed to have filled out a little and definitely did not look as gaunt as he had previously. He had the healthy look of someone who worked outside and exercised regularly. She could not believe how gorgeous he was looking. She had always thought he was gorgeous, but now he was even more so. Something, or maybe someone, really agreed with him. That thought made her feel quite sad.

"Harry," said her dad. "So glad you could make it."

Harry shook hands with her dad and then hugged her mum before he turned towards her. She watched him as he took a deep breath before he walked over to her.

"Hey, Gin," he said quietly, with his deep voice. He leaned towards her and gave her a kiss on the cheek and then pulled her into a hug.

"Hi, Harry," was all she could say in reply. She wanted to stay in his arms forever, but he pulled away all too soon.

Hermione then gave him a hug and whispered something in his ear to which he gave her a brief smile. Ron then slapped him on the shoulder and walked next to Harry as they moved to join George. The three of them then started chatting away.

Ginny took a deep breath and sighed.

"At least he came," said Hermione. "He was at the Burrow when your letter arrived. I honestly thought he wouldn't turn up."

"Why?" asked Ginny curiously.

"Well to start with, he just got back from an extremely long mission, so he's probably snowed under with paperwork," said Hermione. "Plus, he's probably tremendously nervous about seeing you. He's never mentioned what happened with you guys at Christmas, but I know he's been different since then."

"How?" asked Ginny.

"Well, we've hardly seen him at all, to start with. I know he's been on every mission possible since Christmas," said Hermione.

"What?" asked Ginny, amazed.

"Yeah. He's volunteered for them all. Plus, he's doing more training sessions with the trainees, and he has apparently developed a new training programme. Basically, he's kept himself busy with work," said Hermione.

"Ginny," called her mum, interrupting the conversation. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure. Is everyone coming?" asked Ginny.

"Ron and I have to get back to the shop," said George. "But we'll see you tonight for dinner."

"Fleur and I have to go, too, but we're coming for dinner, as well," said Bill.

"I've got to get back to the Ministry," said Percy. "What about you, Dad?"

"I've taken the day off, so I'm heading home with Ginny," replied her dad, giving her a hug at the same time.

Ginny looked at Hermione hoping that she may be able to come back to the Burrow, but Hermione shook her head.

"Sorry, Ginny. I have to get back to work, too. I was only able to get away for a little while, but I'll come as soon as I've finished work. There's so much I want to catch up on and fill you in on, especially with regards to the wedding," said Hermione.

"That's okay. We've got heaps of time to catch up on things. I'll probably have a nap this afternoon. The time difference will be strange for a while," replied Ginny. She then glanced at Harry, who was still talking with George. He obviously knew she was looking at him, as he looked towards her and caught her eye for a moment.

"I have to get back to work, too," said Harry. "I've got duelling classes this afternoon."

"You're taking duelling lessons?" asked George.

"No, I'm having them. The trainees need a lot of practice. So I run the sessions," said Harry.

"Are you coming tonight, Harry?" asked Molly.

"I'll try to get there," replied Harry.

"Okay, then. Six o'clock."

"Okay, bye, everyone," said Harry. He then turned towards Ginny and said, "It's good to see you home, Gin." He then quickly walked away to the Apparition point.

Ginny started gathering up her belongings, which were soon taken from her by her dad, who then banished them to the Burrow. She then walked with her family towards the Apparition point where the Floos were also located. After saying goodbye to those who were heading back to work, she Flooed back to the Burrow with her Mum, Dad and Charlie.

As soon as they arrived home, her mum was whipping up tea and biscuits for them and at the same time asking Ginny about the past few months. No mention was made of Harry, which at the moment suited Ginny quite well. She was still dealing with seeing Harry again. After finishing the tea, Ginny made her excuses and disappeared upstairs to her old room to have a nap. After lying on her bed, thinking of Harry for nearly an hour, tiredness took over and she slept.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Ginny found that dinner at the Burrow was quite uncomfortable that evening. Harry had managed to seat himself as far away from her as possible and spent most of the time talking to George. Ron occasionally joined in their conversation, but was quite often almost forced into talking to her by Hermione, who was sitting between them. Ginny could tell that Ron would much rather be talking with Harry.

She desperately wanted to talk to Harry, but did not know how to approach him. She was dying to find out how he was and what he had been doing, and of course most of all, if he was seeing anyone. After finishing eating, she decided to spend her time studying Harry while he was busy eating and talking. He was looking really well, but maybe a little tired. His face seemed different than she remembered though she couldn't work out why. He had definitely not spent the last seven months wasting away. He was still worth a good long, look.

"You're enjoying the view," said Hermione quietly.

"Hmm," she replied.

"Harry," said Hermione.

"What about him?" asked Ginny.

"He's looking good, isn't he?" said Hermione.

"Very good," replied Ginny.

"You still love him, don't you?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Ginny.

"So what happened?" asked Hermione.

"He didn't tell you?" Ginny asked.

"Until this week, we've only seen him once since Christmas and that was at our engagement party. It wasn't the best place to talk. Even then, I doubt he would have said anything," replied Hermione.

"Oh," said Ginny quietly. She then plucked up her courage. "Do you know if he's seeing anyone?"

"WHAT?" Hermione almost yelled. Everyone at the table stopped talking and stared at them.

"Problem, Hermione?" asked George, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, no. It's fine. Ginny just surprised me, that's all," said Hermione.

Everyone then looked directly at Ginny as if expecting her to explain. She had to think of something quickly to stop anyone asking.

"So, Gin," said Bill. "Are you going to share the surprise with us, too?"

"No. That's fine. Just girl stuff, you know…you really don't want to hear about it. Trust me," she replied, awkwardly.

Everyone was still staring at her and Hermione. Harry was intently staring at her and when she met his gaze, he quickly lowered his eyes and shuffled around in his chair. She could tell that he knew that she and Hermione were talking about him. Hermione leaned over closely to her.

"This conversation needs to be finished later," Hermione whispered in her ear.

A moment later Harry stood up and announced that he was leaving.

"Mate, can't you stay a bit longer? We've barely seen you lately," said Ron, shooting a dirty look at Ginny.

"I've got a lot to do tomorrow, especially if I want the weekend free," said Harry.

"Oh. Big plans for the weekend, then?" asked Hermione.

Ginny looked at Harry, trying to figure out what he was planning. Maybe he was seeing someone. That was a really worrying thought.

"Yeah, Ron, George, Charlie and I are going to get together, maybe have a fly, play Quidditch and have a few drinks. It's been ages since we've done that. I didn't realise how much I've missed that until today," replied Harry. He then walked over to Molly and Arthur, thanked them, and then said goodbye.

Once Harry had left, everyone's eyes turned to Ginny. They did not look particularly happy.

"What in the name of Merlin happened with you and Harry?" George said loudly.

Ginny could see Charlie, Ron and her mum nod in agreement to George's question.

"George, that's not really our business," said her dad.

"Yes it is, because it's affecting us, too," replied George.

"How can what happened between Harry and myself affect you lot?" asked Ginny.

"Easily," said George. "After you left for Australia, he missed you and was a little lost without you, but he didn't bury himself in work. He spent a lot of time with Ron and me. It was great. I've always liked Harry, but we became much closer friends. The three of us, I mean. But since Christmas, I have not seen him at all, except for Ron and Hermione's engagement party. He's one of my best mates and I haven't seen him."

"Neither has anyone else," continued Ron. "We've been mates since we were eleven, but he's kept himself away from me and Hermione, and the whole family."

"We've really missed him, Ginny," said her mum. "What happened? You seemed fine over Christmas."

"I…We…I don't know. I can't explain it now. I don't want to explain it now. It was all a misunderstanding and the person I need to talk about it to is Harry, not you lot," said Ginny. She was starting to get angry with her family. They were all preoccupied with how they had not seen Harry much. How did they think she was feeling? She was the one in love with him, who had obviously stuffed things up with him. Oooh, they were annoying her. She stood up. "Look, hopefully one day I'll be able to explain, but just now I don't need you hassling me and making it worse, so, I'm going to bed. Thanks for meeting me today and for the lovely dinner. It's great to be home." After that, she walked upstairs to her room and collapsed on her bed, hoping to fall asleep.

Unfortunately, Harry was in her mind. Old memories of him and new ones from how he looked today floated across her mind. It was too distracting. He looked so good today, very fit and healthy, but she could also see the lines around his eyes and on his forehead, which showed that he was tired, stressed or unhappy.

Ginny knew she was going to have to talk to him soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Once again, a huge thanks to **mew** for her excellent beta work (and for taking some innocent comments as much more!).

**Chapter 3**

Harry left Ginny's homecoming dinner and Apparated home. He stopped at the gate and looked around at his house. It was looking beautiful. Kreacher had done a fabulous job in the garden as well as painting and fixing up the house.

Last October, Harry had decided that he wanted a home away from the city, where hopefully he and Ginny could live, and eventually raise their children. He had contemplated building at Godric's Hollow where his parents had been living when he was a baby, but that would have taken a lot of time. Instead, he had spent weekends looking at magical and Muggle houses in the countryside. He had found the perfect house fairly quickly and had bought it as soon as he could. It was a magical home, about a mile from a small Muggle village. The house had nearly five acres of grounds and was surrounded by tall trees. As soon as he saw the trees around the field, Harry could picture family Quidditch games with Ron, George, Bill, Charlie and of course Ginny, as well as, eventually, with his children and their cousins. The house itself was two-storied with a large attic as well. There were plenty of bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas without being too large. It was perfect for a family.

After he bought the house, he had Kreacher start fixing and cleaning the inside so that it would be ready for when Ginny came home at Christmas. Harry had planned on showing her the house while she was back and he had planned on proposing to her at the same time. When things were tense and awkward at Christmas, he had decided to show her just before she left as something she could look forward to, but that plan was destroyed by her telling him he could see other girls.

Harry loved his house, and he found that spending the little free time he had in the garden, was quite relaxing. It was much nicer tending to his own garden, than being forced to prune and weed his aunt's garden, like he had to do growing up.

He walked up the path in the late evening light, thinking of seeing Ginny again and what things would be like now that she was back for good. He had only realised today how much he had missed his friends, as well as Arthur and Molly, over the past months. He did not want to stop seeing them again, but he knew that it would not be easy with Ginny being around.

The one thing that Harry was certain about was that he was not ready to talk to Ginny just yet. It had really upset him when she had told him that he could see other girls and he wondered the reason behind her saying that to him.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry was surprised that he had slept well. He had expected that his dreams would have been full of Ginny but he could not remember dreaming at all. He was probably still tired from the recent mission.

After a quick shower and breakfast, he Apparated to work and knuckled down to try and finish his paperwork. There was plenty of it, too, as only what was deemed necessary was done while he was away. Luckily, he had no interruptions, so he was finished by early afternoon.

Harry decided to use his powers that came with being a head of department, and he gave himself the rest of the day off. He knew that if he were really needed, Kingsley would contact him. So, he headed to Diagon Alley and towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, where he discovered Ron was stuck to the ceiling.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing up there?" he asked Ron.

"Well, my dear brother George was testing his Levitating Liquorices on me," replied Ron. "Apparently they levitate you fine, but once you're up, you stay up. I can't get down."

"Oh, well, thank goodness you weren't outside. You'd have been like my Aunt Marge was years ago, well, without the blowing up part," Harry said. "Why would you want to levitate? What's wrong with Wingardium Leviosa or a broom?"

"Good question," said George as he appeared from the back room. "Why turn into a canary? Why grow tentacles from your ears?"

Harry laughed. "Why indeed?"

George shrugged. "For fun, because we can. I'm just looking for new ideas."

"Well, I don't think this is one of your better ones," said Ron from above. "Are you going to get me down, or will I have to stay up here until the charm wears off?"

"Oh, it's not a charm," said George. "The concentration of powdered billywigs was a tad too high. It'll wear off in a week or so."

"WHAT?" screamed Ron.

Ron's face was the picture of anger, which amused Harry so much that he ended up collapsed in the middle of the shop, laughing.

"Yeah," said George, who was desperately trying not to laugh. "I put in a teaspoon when it probably should have been a pinch or less."

"So what am I supposed to do? Hermione has all these wedding jobs that we have to do this afternoon. She'll hex you," said Ron.

George winked at Harry, who was still rolling about on the floor laughing. "Mmm… You know, I don't think we'll market these. Harry's right, who needs to levitate…"

"GEORGE!" yelled Ron.

"…when you can use a broom or a charm."

"GEORGE!" Ron yelled again.

"You could be right, George," said Harry, deliberately ignoring Ron on the ceiling.

"GEORGE!" Ron screamed.

"It's much more fun turning people into things," Harry continued.

"GEORGE. YOU PRAT!" Ron yelled, yet again.

"You wanted something Ron?" asked George innocently.

"CAN…YOU…GET… ME…DOWN?" Ron said, forcefully.

"Hmmm…"

Harry was still laughing but managed to speak somehow. "You know, George, we do need him down from there to play tomorrow."

"True, true," said George, rubbing his chin.

"Please?" begged Ron.

"I'll see what I can do," said George, as he disappeared into the back room.

"Merlin. He better have something to help," said Ron as they waited for George to return. "I'm supposed to meet Hermione in half an hour to organise our wedding cake and invitations."

"She won't be impressed if you're still up there," Harry stated.

"You think?" Ron asked, sarcastically.

"Here we go," said George as he returned. "Get this into you."

He levitated a vial up to Ron who quickly swallowed it and immediately plummeted down to the ground. Harry quickly cast a Cushioning Charm just before he hit the ground. Ron quickly stood up, brushed himself off, and then grabbed George by the shirt.

"Never again. Find yourself a new tester," said Ron.

"Okay, okay. Don't get your wand in a twist," said George, and then turned to look at Harry.

"No way," said Harry quickly.

"So Harry, is there something you needed or is this just a social visit?" asked George.

"Social. I'm on my way to buy a new broom and I thought I'd drop in to check on things for tomorrow," he replied.

"A new broom?" said Ron rubbing his hands together. "It's a shame the new Nimbus isn't out yet. That would be brilliant."

"Well, I can't wait 'til it comes out," Harry replied. "I won't have anything to fly tomorrow, otherwise."

"So what are you going to get?" asked George.

"No idea. I'll see what's there. I realised earlier today that I didn't have a broom. My last one got wrecked on a mission earlier in the year. This is the first time I've had the need to replace it," he said.

"Well, have fun shopping," said Ron. "I'd rather come with you than do this wedding stuff, but Hermione insists I have to be there."

"If you're organising the cake, you may get to sample some," said George.

"That'll be the only thing keeping me there," said Ron. "So mate, what time are you coming to the Burrow tomorrow?"

"Will eleven be okay?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, sounds good. See you then," said George.

Harry said goodbye to his friends and then walked towards Quality Quidditch Supplies to find a new broom. Luckily, the shop was practically empty so he could look at the brooms in peace. After looking around for a while, he narrowed his choices down to either the Firebolt2 or the latest Cleansweep. He found that it was a hard decision to make, especially when he was not able to take each of them for a fly. He stood for a while holding both brooms, one in each hand, before he was interrupted, not by the salesman, but by the man who had just been talking to the salesman.

"Excuse me, sir," the stranger said. "You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"

Harry sighed; he was still not comfortable being noticed by the general public. "Yes, that's me," he said quietly.

"I'm Alec McMillan; I'm a manager for the Nimbus Company. I noticed that you're looking at those two brooms. Are you in the market for a new broom?" he asked Harry.

"Ah, yeah. I am, actually," Harry replied. He was pleased to see that this was not a typical fan encounter. "My last broom was destroyed earlier in the year and I haven't replaced it yet. I'm supposed to be playing socially tomorrow with some friends, so I need to get a broom today. I was told that your new broom wouldn't be released for a while yet."

"It's scheduled to be released at the end of August, but I might have a proposition for you," Alec said.

"A proposition?" asked Harry warily.

"Well, yes. Nimbus is looking for someone to test out the broom for us and then give us a review that we can use for advertising. We were talking to all of the professional teams, but it was becoming too hard to choose one decent flier over another. We were worried about teams not using our broom if we didn't choose one of their players, so I decided to look away from the Quidditch teams. I know that you are a very good flier and could have played professionally, so would you be interested?" asked Alec. "Come and have a look at the broom," he continued, leading Harry out to the back of the shop. When they were in the storeroom, Alec opened a box and pulled out the broom.

Harry was stunned. It was a beautiful broom, just as nice as his previous two Firebolts. He held it reverently in his hands staring at it in wonder. "What else would I need to do, besides test the broom?"

"Well, we'd need you to write some kind of review about how well the broom flies, and we'd probably get some pictures of you on the broom to use. That's about it." Alec replied.

"I wouldn't need to make public appearances or anything?" he asked.

"No, not at all. As long as you don't mind your picture in some ads," Alec said.

Harry thought about this for a moment. He did not like seeing his picture plastered about the place. Though if he did this he would have some say in which picture they used, which was always better than being photographed randomly by infuriating reporters. "As long as I have some say in which pictures you use, I could be tempted. It's a wonderful broom. Oh, I'm going to have to check with my boss, just in case they wouldn't approve. Would I be able to do that now?" he asked.

"Of course you can. I'll stay here until you return," said Alec.

Harry quickly left Quality Quidditch Supplies and returned to the Ministry to seek out Kingsley. Kingsley had no issues with the deal, so Harry was quickly able to return to the shop and finalise the details. He could not wait to see the Weasley boys' faces tomorrow when he showed up with this beautiful new broom.

erHHHhhHHhgbfdsfgbkhsjbgviks

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry was pleased that Ginny did not seem to be around when he arrived at the Burrow on Saturday morning to meet Ron, George and Charlie to play Quidditch. He was looking forward to having a day with the boys, and seeing Ginny could just make life uncomfortable for all of them. He knew that he would have to talk to her at some stage, but he was not ready just yet.

Charlie, Ron and George were sitting in the kitchen when Harry arrived. He quietly and carefully placed his new broom by the door before joining them. Molly had obviously been cooking all morning as the table was covered with a mountain of food.

"Just as well you turned up now, Harry," said George, as Harry strolled in. "Ron has already eaten about four people's share."

"Hey," said Ron. "There's heaps here. I'm just a growing boy."

"You'll be growing outwards if you're not careful," said Charlie.

"I can't imagine that Hermione would be too pleased if you eat too much and she has to get your robes altered," said Harry.

"Merlin, can you imagine the lecture he'd get then," said George.

"Yep, Hermione would not be happy," said Harry.

"But the making up afterwards would be won…."

"Enough," said Harry. "I do not want to hear about it."

"Come on. Are we going to play or not?" said Charlie. "Or do you intend to sit around playing tea parties all afternoon?"

The four of them headed out to the secluded paddock where the Weasleys had been playing Quidditch for years. Harry had grabbed his broom from next to the kitchen door, where he had left it, and met the others at the broom shed. Ron quickly looked at Harry's broom, as he joined them and then quickly did a huge double-take.

"Harry!" Ron said. "That's, that's, that's…"

"What's up with you, Ron?" asked Charlie, as he joined the group.

"Harry…new broom…new Nimbus…"

"What?" said George and Charlie together, and they turned to look at the broom in Harry's hands.

Harry showed them his new broom and explained what happened during his trip to Quality Quidditch Supplies on the previous afternoon.

"So, all you have to do is fly it, write a bit about it, and get a few photos taken, and it's all yours?" asked Ron.

"Yep," said Harry. "I haven't been on it yet. So how about we get going?"

Very soon, the four of them were in the air, flying happily around and racing each other. Harry found that the new Nimbus was excellent to fly. It was just as fast as his previous brooms and was as easy to manoeuvre. He practised a few feints, rolls and loops, as well as testing how fast it could actually go. After he had had a good turn on the broom, he swapped brooms with Ron to let him have a go on the broom. Eventually, George and Charlie managed to get a turn after Ron was pried away from the Nimbus.

The four men flew for happily for hours, sometimes racing and at other times playing two a side Quidditch. Eventually, hunger took over, especially for Ron, so they headed back to the kitchen where they had a good feed.

Later that afternoon, they got cleaned up and changed and headed into the Leaky Cauldron to have some drinks. There, they met up with quite a few of their friends from Hogwarts. Lee Jordan had arranged with George to meet them, so he was already waiting at the bar. They were eventually joined by Oliver Wood, Neville, Bill and eventually Percy.

Harry thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the Weasley boys, even Percy, as well as his other friends. It had been way too long since they had had a get-together like this. The night passed quickly as they drank, ate and reminisced. Harry subtly avoided drinking as much as the others did. He hated the feeling of being hung-over, even if there was a hangover potion ready. Plus, there was always a chance that he would be called into the Auror Office, so he was careful not to over-indulge. At midnight, he decided that it was time to leave, especially as Ron was looking well and truly pissed. He helped Ron back to his flat where Hermione was waiting.

"Sorry, Hermione. He's a little under the weather," he said to his friend as he lowered Ron to their sofa.

"It's okay. I assumed he'd come home like this. At least it's not a regular occurrence. I'm surprised that you're not the same."

"Oh, I don't do that to myself anymore, just in case I'm needed at work. I hate the feeling the next day anyway, even with a good hangover potion."

"Well, I'm glad someone has a little sense."

"So, what did you get up to tonight? Please tell me you weren't working on a Saturday night."

"No. I wasn't working. Ginny was here. We shared some wine, got some Indian and talked. It was good."

"Oh…"

"Harry, why didn't you tell us what she said to you at Christmas?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest," he said quietly. "It was so tense and weird at Christmas and then she said I could see other girls. I thought she must have met someone and was trying to let me down easily. I felt like shit, Hermione. I just didn't feel like talking or thinking at all. I guess she had a reason for telling me that."

"She did, but I think it would be better coming from Ginny, not me."

"I will talk to her. I want to talk to her. I need to, but just not yet."

"Good, because she wants to talk to you."

"That sounds ominous."

"It'll be fine. I'll tell you one thing that she told me today. There has been no one but you since you kissed her in the Gryffindor common room."

Harry smiled. Somehow that one sentence managed to take a huge weight off his shoulders. Maybe things would work out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Thanks to **mew** for the beta work on this. Also, thanks to all the people who have reviewed - you help me stay motivated.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Ginny looked out of the window of her childhood bedroom. Below her, she saw three of her brothers making their way towards the broom shed. Just as she started to wonder if Harry had arrived, she saw him making his way towards the shed as well. He had a broom in his hand that made her look a lot closer. _That cannot be the new Nimbus_, she thought. _Surely, that had not been released yet. How, in the name of Merlin, did Harry have one_? Now she was itching to go downstairs, to see both Harry and his new broom. She was not going to, though, as she had promised Ron that she would not interrupt their day.

She was still watching out of the window an hour later, when Hermione appeared at her bedroom door.

"Why are you torturing yourself by watching him?" asked Hermione, who was walking into her bedroom.

"Because I can," answered Ginny. She turned away from the window and sat down on her bed where Hermione joined her. "Harry's got a new broom. It's not supposed to be on the market yet. I want to see how it flies."

"You just want to watch Harry, you mean," replied Hermione.

"I missed him so much while I was away, and now I'm home and I still miss him. I want to talk to him, to hug him, to kiss him, to make love to him…but I can't," said Ginny, in a despondent tone.

"What happened?" asked Hermione quietly.

"I said one sentence to him at Christmas that I shouldn't have."

"What did you say?"

"I told him that he could see other girls."

"Why?" asked Hermione, looking totally astonished.

"I hadn't seen him in ages and I had been getting all of these odd vibes from him and everyone else. I hadn't even planned on saying it until that moment. I just thought he might need the space or the freedom. The distance was becoming unbearable, so I thought I'd give him the option. He has hardly said anything to me since."

"There wasn't any other reason that you said that to him?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Like what?"

"Like, you meeting someone in Australia. Did you start fancying someone there?"

"No!" Ginny exclaimed, rather forcefully.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Definitely," replied Ginny. "There has never been anyone else, ever since he kissed me after that Quidditch game in front of nearly every Gryffindor."

"Well, you need to talk to him then."

"I know. But it's going to be difficult because I'm pretty sure that he won't want me to be anywhere near him at the moment."

"You're just going to have to coerce him then, aren't you?" said Hermione.

Ginny stood up and stared out of the window once more. Her shoulders were slumped and tears were starting to slide down her cheeks. She kept her back to Hermione so that she could not see the tears. Hermione must have known, as she joined Ginny at the window and pulled her into a hug. The tears started flowing more freely, and soon she was sobbing into Hermione's shoulder. They stayed like that for quite a while. Hermione was rubbing her back and making consoling noises. She eventually pulled herself together and moved back to her bed and looked at Hermione, feeling very embarrassed.

"Sorry about that," Ginny whispered.

"Its fine," Hermione replied. "That's what I'm here for."

"Merlin! Why did I have to be so stupid and wreck things? I don't think I can handle not having him in my life."

"You'll just have to get him back in there, then. At least he hasn't gone out with anyone since then. That would make things a lot more difficult."

"I guess that's something."

"And for now, you need to get out of here. I'm not letting you hang around here and mope while they're out having fun. If they can have boys' time, then we can have girls' time. So grab some gear, and we'll go back to my place and we'll decide what we're going to do once we get there."

"But…"

"No buts. Get moving, or I'll hex you."

"I'm going on two conditions."

"All right then. What are they?"

"Number one, no clubs or pubs, I don't want to run into the boys while they're out; and number two, there had better be chocolate and wine involved."

"Deal."

Ginny quickly gathered together what she would need, and she and Hermione Flooed to Ron and Hermione's flat. Once they were there, they made tea, found chocolate biscuits, and sat themselves on the couch.

"What am I going to do, Hermione?" asked Ginny. "I miss him so much, even more now that I'm home and I know that he's nearby."

"I don't know that it's going to be easy, but you need to get him to talk to you," replied Hermione.

"I know. The problem will be getting him to talk to me willingly," said Ginny. "I can't just Apparate into his kitchen and ambush him."

"No, you couldn't, not even if you wanted to," said Hermione. "We have no idea where he's living these days. We've all tried to find him at home on many occasions, but we can't. He's not at that flat he had. There's someone else living there now. Grimmauld Place is empty and Kreacher isn't there, so we can't ask him. We've tried many different name possibilities in trying to Floo him, but we can't get through. Even owls come back to us without delivering their messages. The only place we can contact him is at work."

"Really?" Ginny asked, feeling a little dismayed. How was she supposed to talk to him if no one knew where he lived? "So, I'm going to have to see him at the Ministry, then."

"That's the only way I can see that you're going to be able to catch him," said Hermione.

"Mmmm. I guess it is, though it's hardly going to be private, is it?" Ginny commented.

"You could try sending him letters there, to start with. Maybe he'll eventually agree to meet you," Hermione said.

"I suppose, but maybe I should give him a little time before I pressure him to talk to me. This is Harry after all. He can be pretty stubborn. I'm going to have to sweeten him up a bit first," said Ginny.

"I know!" exclaimed Hermione suddenly. "You have to woo him."

"What!" Ginny said loudly.

"Woo him, like he did with you after the war when you were being difficult. He sent you flowers and chocolates, and did little things for you until you finally caved in and took him back. Though why you waited so long to forgive him was beyond me!" said Hermione.

"Merlin, it was only a week," said Ginny.

"The poor boy was in a right state for that week, I'll have you know. But what he did worked, didn't it? You have to do the same," Hermione said.

"I can't send him flowers, though," sighed Ginny. "And there's only so much chocolate I could send him."

"That's saying a lot!" laughed Hermione.

"So what could I send him, then?" asked Ginny.

"Oh, anything really, just let him know that you're thinking of him. Maybe chocolate one day, something for lunch another day and, oh, I don't know, maybe a butterbeer or something the next," Hermione replied. "Even if you just send him something saying that you miss him."

"Okay. I think I can do that," said Ginny.

The two of them sat quietly for a while before Ginny sat up and stared at Hermione.

"Hey!" she said.

"What?" asked Hermione.

"You've forgotten something," Ginny said.

"What?" Hermione asked again.

"Where's the wine? You made a deal," said Ginny.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

The next morning Ginny woke up feeling a little more positive. Talking with Hermione the previous day had helped her quite a bit. She had to take matters into her own hands and that meant she had to get Harry to talk to her. As she showered and dressed, she thought about what she could do to woo him, as Hermione put it. Apparently, she would not be able to contact him today as no one, including owls, could find him. That would not stop her trying, she thought. She was determined that she would at least get him to talk to her and then hopefully they would eventually get back together. So, she would start today.

Ginny wondered how the boys had finished up the night before. There had been no sign of Ron by eleven when she had left Hermione the previous evening. They must have had a late night.

As she was sitting eating her breakfast a little later, Charlie staggered down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was looking a little worse for the wear, with red bleary eyes and very pale, blotchy skin. He slid onto one of the chairs at the table and lowered his head to the tabletop and groaned. All Ginny could do was laugh at him.

"Gin, it's not nice to laugh," he mumbled.

"Big night, huh?" she asked.

Charlie nodded in reply.

"So, what did you boys get up to? I take it you didn't behave too much."

"We ran into a few fellows. I remember drinking and talking to Oliver and Harry a lot."

"Did you meet some girls?"

Charlie lifted his head off the table and smiled. "That was the beauty of hanging around Harry and Oliver. The witches flock around them."

"They do?" she asked quietly. The last thing that she wanted to hear was that Harry had lots of witches hanging off of him, but she also needed to know to satisfy her curiosity.

"Oh, yeah," said Charlie. "Come on; Oliver's a professional Quidditch player and Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived and Beat You-Know-Who once and for all. They attract women by doing nothing. Surely, you have wizards falling all over you because you're a Harpy. Though, I really don't want to imagine you with any man, even Harry."

Ginny scowled at him.

"What?" Charlie asked. "Oh come on, Gin. You're my little sister. I don't want to imagine you doing those kinds of things, okay?"

"Whatever," Ginny replied. "Did you meet anyone?"

"I did talk to a girl that went to Hogwarts with you, but for the life of me I cannot remember her name. She seemed really nice. Gorgeous, too. Her hair is a brownish, red sort of colour, and she's tiny," Charlie said, looking at her hoping that she was going to help him remember.

"No idea, Charlie. That could describe about a quarter of the girls who were at Hogwarts when I was there."

"Oh well, maybe Harry will remember. She said hello to him and was trying to talk to him, I think."

Ginny looked at him carefully. She wanted to ask him about Harry, but she also did not want to hear that he had been with someone else. Charlie obviously knew what her look meant.

"Hey, don't worry, Gin. He wasn't trying to pull her or anything. They didn't talk for long. I honestly think that he still loves you."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. He was turning down witches all night. A few wizards, too, from what I can remember. If he was over you, he wouldn't be doing that, believe me."

Ginny sighed, feeling a lot happier. Harry had turned down lots of witches. She was starting to feel much more positive. She just needed to start on her plan to get him back.

"Do you know if Harry went home last night?"

Charlie looked at her curiously. "He took Ron home about midnight, I think. Ron was a mess. Harry didn't come back to the pub, so I imagine he went home. What are you up to, Ginny?"

"I'm trying to patch things up," she replied.

"Thank Merlin," said her mother from the doorway as she came inside with her arms full of fruits and vegetables from the garden. "It would be nice to see Harry around here again."

"Well, I haven't fixed things yet, Mum. I've got to get him to talk to me first of all. Even if I manage that, it doesn't mean he'll want to get back together with me."

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Charlie, who was starting to look a little better after his night out.

"Hermione came up with the idea that I need to woo him, like he did with me after the battle."

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Molly.

"I'm going to send him some gifts and notes so that he knows that I'm thinking of him," she replied.

"What did you have in mind?" her mother asked.

"I thought I could send him some treacle tart today, if I can get an owl to deliver it to him somehow. Hermione said that it's impossible to get hold of him at home. In fact she said no one knows where his home is."

"Mmm, treacle tart sounds good," said Charlie. "Mum, I love you. Will you make me some treacle tart?"

"There you go, Ginny," Molly laughed. "The way to a man's heart is definitely through his belly. Though, Charles, I'm not sure that you deserve me making you anything, by the state you seem to be in this morning."

"Come on, Mum. Please?" he begged.

"Maybe," Molly replied, and then turned to Ginny. "What else were you planning on sending Harry?"

"Well, I can probably get my hands on some pre-season Quidditch tickets. Harry likes Portree, even though he pretended that the Harpies were his favourite. I could send him those."

"Oh, good thinking, he'll like those," said Charlie. "Any other ideas?"

"There's one other one that I'm working on, but I won't go into that one just yet," she said, knowing that her mother would definitely not like this idea, and Charlie would not like some aspects of it. She pointedly looked at the calendar on the wall. "It's Harry's birthday on Wednesday. I have a present for him, which I'll send. I'll need one more thing, assuming that I can get some treacle tart to him today."

Molly Weasley rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Well, come on Ginny. There's only one way we'll find out. Let's get baking and we'll think of a way to get it to him."

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Later on that afternoon, Ginny was in her bedroom finishing unpacking her belongings. She had no idea where she wanted to live, so, for now, the Burrow would have to do.

Earlier, she and her mum had made Harry a treacle tart. They also made one for Charlie, as he had decided to help Ginny with her plan to win Harry back. Once Harry's tart was made, but still warm, Ginny packaged it and used her parent's new owl to take it to just outside of Harry's home. They hoped that if the owl left it just outside of the wards around Harry's home, wherever that was, he would find it. Along with the treacle tart, she attached a note hoping that he would enjoy the tart she had made him and that she was thinking of him.

Ginny had decided that on the following morning she would visit the Quidditch League Office and get some tickets for Harry. She could then, hopefully, get them to him while he was at work.

She needed to think of something to send to him on Tuesday. Maybe she would get him some of his favourite chocolates or his favourite take-away for lunch.

For Wednesday, Ginny had bought a birthday present already, but she wanted to actually give it to him. So she decided to do something else for him, something she hoped he would like. This was the idea she did not want to share with her mother, because she knew that Molly Weasley would freak if she saw this.

After the disastrous trip home last Christmas, Ginny did something a little rash to help her remember and think of Harry. It was not that she really needed a reminder, she thought. It was just something that seemed like a good idea at the time. Looking back now, she probably would not be quite so drastic if she were to do it again.

Ginny shut her bedroom door, turned to her mirror and slowly took off her shirt. She then removed the glamour charm she had cast on herself. The tattoo of the Hungarian Horntail appeared on her right shoulder blade with its tail wrapping around her right bicep. She had cast a glamour charm on it so that her mother did not catch sight of it, because she knew the argument _that_ would cause.

She thought that she might take a picture of the tattoo and send that to Harry. She had always teased Harry about getting a tattoo of a Horntail, since she first mentioned it back in her fifth year at Hogwarts when they had first started going out. Sometimes, he had almost agreed to get it done, but for one reason or another, it had never happened. She had a feeling that he would like this.

As she was standing looking in the mirror, trying to figure out how she would take a picture of her shoulder, there was a quick knock on the door. Before she had time to cover up, the door opened and Charlie peered in. When he saw her without a shirt on, he started to close the door and then abruptly froze.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed. "Is that…that what I think it is?"

Ginny knew there was no way that she could deny it, so she nodded.

Charlie came in, closing and locking the door behind him, and spun her around so that he could have a better look at her shoulder. He stood there looking at it for a long time.

"Wow!" he said finally.

"Wow?" Ginny asked. "I thought you would be yelling at me."

Charlie gave her a smile. "Well, if it wasn't a dragon, I might have. I imagine that Mum will have something to say when she finds out."

Ginny sighed. "I've been hiding it from her with a Glamour Charm."

"Why did you get a dragon?"

"Harry," she said. "It's a Horntail, like he faced in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I've been trying to convince him to get one on his chest for years. When I went back to Australia after Christmas, I decided to get it done."

"It's nice," he said. "Tell me this, though: Why are you standing here looking at it?"

"I'm trying to figure out…Hey, you can do it. I want to take a picture of it, and send it to Harry."

"Ah, the other idea you were working on," he said, nodding. "Well, I think he'd like it. Good idea."

"I can't believe you're okay with this. You're supposed to be totally against me being with anyone, yet here you are taking a photo of my tattoo to send to Harry," she said, handing him her camera.

Charlie took a few photos of it for her, and then said that he was happy to get the photos done for her, so he soon disappeared.

Ginny spent the rest of the afternoon getting organised. She organised Quidditch tickets for Harry and decided upon and organised the gift she would send to Harry on Tuesday: the chance to escape the Magical world with tickets to an amusement park that had a new roller-coaster which was supposed to be the closest thing to flying.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Over the next few days, Ginny sent Harry the gifts she had organised, along with short notes saying that she missed him. None of the gifts were returned, even the treacle tart on Sunday. On Wednesday, Harry's birthday, she prepared to head into the Ministry, in the hope that Harry would at least acknowledge her and accept his birthday present.


	5. Chapter 5

Note: A huge thanks to mew-tsubaki for being a super beta reader and friend, and for letting me use her character Mira. :]

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Harry woke up that Sunday, late. He never usually got the opportunity to sleep in, so he enjoyed it thoroughly. After a leisurely shower, he headed into the kitchen where Kreacher had a huge brunch ready for him. He decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing in his garden, so after he finished eating, he grabbed _The Daily Prophet _and headed outside. Early in the afternoon he noticed an owl soaring towards his property. As it flew closer, Harry watched, waiting to see what the owl would do, as his property was heavily warded. No magical living things and people except for Kreacher, his owl, Aesir, and himself were able to travel through the wards. Just as the mystery owl approached the edge of the wards, it flew down and landed at the gate. A few minutes later, the owl flew away, leaving a large package.

Harry's instincts as an Auror kicked in straight away. He quietly walked to the gate with his wand drawn. After opening the gate, he waved his wand over and around the package to detect if there was any Dark magic, hexes or charms upon it. When that turned out clear, he opened the package with his wand to discover a home-baked treacle tart. He picked it up, carried it inside and placed it on the kitchen table. It was then that he saw the note that came with the tart. He opened the note to find it was from Ginny. _What in the name of Godric is she up to?_ he thought.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope that you enjoy this. I know it's your favourite. I've missed you._

_Love, Ginny._

He fell into one of the chairs around the kitchen table and stared at Ginny's note for a long time. He really did not know what to think. It seemed that Ginny was trying to get his attention, and to be honest, he knew he wanted to give her attention. The question was: _How long was it going to take?_ He did not want to give in too quickly. He also wondered what else Ginny had in store for him. The treacle tart was a great idea. He could never say no to treacle tart. The thing that he really admired was the ingenuity of sending the gift to just outside of his wards. It was not something that anyone else had tried, and it had worked.

The smell of the freshly baked treacle tart soon tempted him and he cut himself a slice which he thoroughly enjoyed. He wondered if Molly or Ginny had made this for him as it was probably the best treacle tart he had ever tasted.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry wandered through the halls of the Ministry of Magic early on Monday morning. Instead of focusing on his tasks for the day, he was thinking about what Ginny would do next. Late the night before, he had realised that she was doing a similar thing to what he had done after the battle at Hogwarts. She was making sure that he did not stop thinking about her - not that she was ever far from his thoughts. This meant that he should be ready for something else to arrive today.

He was at his desk all morning, getting the case organised against the wizard he had tracked across Europe and his cronies. Luckily, he had some good evidence against the group. He just needed to get it and the rest of the paperwork organised. He ate his lunch as he worked, but managed to take a quick break for a cup of tea and the last piece of treacle tart. He could not believe that he had eaten most of it the day before.

It was just as he was having this break when his secretary appeared with a small package in her hands.

"Mr. Potter?" she asked quietly.

"It's Harry, Madeline," he said, for what he imagined was the hundredth time. She always addressed him very formally.

"Sorry," she said. "I have a package here for you. It seems to be okay. It's passed all of the security checks."

"Thanks, Madeline," he said, reaching out to take the parcel from her.

He put it on his desk and stared at it for a few minutes, at the same time wondering what Ginny had sent. It was definitely from her; he could tell without even touching it. Eventually, he opened the package to find an envelope and a box of three sinfully delicious-looking chocolates from Honeydukes. He moved the chocolates to the side and opened the envelope to find another note and a pair of tickets to Portree's first pre-season game against the Arrows. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had always said that he was a Harpies fan, even when Ginny had to move to Australia, but he always had a soft spot for Portree. He quickly unfolded the note.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you enjoy the chocolate. They're a new line at Honeydukes. Hopefully, they're as good as they look. I hope you enjoy the game with whomever you decide to take. And, yes, I do know that you support Portree, but it means a lot to me that you tell everyone that you are the biggest Harpies fan._

_Love, Ginny._

"Merlin!" he exclaimed, to his empty office. "She is … is …" Harry dropped his head to his desktop. He only lifted his head up when he heard a knock at the door. He was surprised to see Charlie there.

"Hiya, Harry. How are things?" Charlie asked with a questioning look.

Harry looked at him for a moment, and he suddenly realised that Charlie knew what Ginny was up to. He would not be surprised if he was helping her by coming to check up on his reactions. Should he be wary of what he told Charlie or should he just come clean?He was not sure, but it was probably better to be wary of what he said to start with.

"Hey, Charlie. Things are fine," he said, trying to stay noncommittal to start with. "How did you pull up on Sunday?"

"Not pretty at all. It took a while to get up to speed once I got up. Mum and Ginny were absolutely no help at all."

Harry half-heartedly laughed, but could not really feel cheerful, with Ginny being brought into the conversation.

"You had a good night then?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. It was a great day and night, all around. You're new broom is brilliant, mate."

Harry grinned. "It sure is. I have to write that review for them soon, too. Once I get all of this casework done," he said, pulling a face. "So, Charlie, did you need something, or is this just a social visit?"

"Well I do need something, but it is social. Do you remember that girl at the pub on Saturday night that we both were talking to? The one that Ginny was good friends with at Hogwarts?"

Harry thought back. He had not really paid much attention to the girls that were hanging around them. He was just not interested in any of those girls, at all. He did remember that some of the girls at the pub were ones that Ginny was friendly with; and one of them used to be great friends with Ginny at school. He had talked to her a little. "Did she have brown hair with reddish bits around here?" Harry asked, as he waved his hands in front of his face.

"Yeah, that's her," Charlie said, excitedly. "Do you know her name?"

"Mira."

"Mira," Charlie said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah, Miraphina Atherton. You fancy her, then?"

"Oh, yeah," said Charlie, who was now looking rather spaced out. "I'll have to ask Ginny about her, now that I know her name."

"Well, they were good friends at school. She probably knows where you could find her."

"Nice. Thanks Harry."

"Welcome," he replied.

"I better let you get back to work. We'll have to catch up again soon, maybe for another Quidditch game."

"Yeah, mate. That'd be great."

"All right. How was the treacle tart, by the way?" Charlie asked quickly.

Before he realised it, he answered Charlie, instead of staying quiet. "Brilliant."

Charlie grinned slyly. "Good to hear. Gin slaved over that for you. I'll let her know what you thought. Enjoy the chocolates."

Before Harry could answer, Charlie left his office with a wave. Harry dropped his head back down on his desktop. Why did he admit that to Charlie? He would tell Ginny, and Ginny would start to realise that he was slowly caving in to her plans.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

On Tuesday morning, Harry walked into the Ministry thinking similar thoughts to the previous morning. He did not have to wait long to find out what Ginny had in store for him that day. When he walked into his office, there was a package already waiting for him on his desk.

He opened the package to find some Muggle chocolates and another envelope. Inside the envelope was another note, along with a double pass to a theme park. He was a little unsure why Ginny would be giving him tickets to a Muggle theme park, seeing that he was pretty sure that she had never been to one herself. He wondered how she had even heard of the theme park, let alone realised what was at a place like that, and that he would enjoy it. He gave a small shrug and opened the note.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you enjoy these, as I know you would probably like a day away from the wizarding world, where you can have fun without anyone recognising and annoying you. I was told that there's a ride that is pretty close to the feeling of flying. I'm sure you'll love that. I also thought that some Muggle chocolates would go well with the pass. I know you love these ones._

_Love, Ginny._

Harry felt a lump forming in his throat. Ginny's gift was extremely thoughtful. He really hated going out in the wizarding world where he was still recognised and fawned over. It was a lovely thought to give him a chance to get away from all of that. He then looked at the chocolates and noticed a medley of his favourite Muggle chocolates. He opened a Mars Bar with a smile and happily started his day's work.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry walked into his kitchen on the morning of his birthday to be greeted by Kreacher beckoning him to the table for a fully cooked breakfast. As he ate his feast of a breakfast, he wondered, once again, what Ginny had in store for him today. He knew that she would have something extraordinary planned, seeing that it was his birthday. In some ways, he was looking forward to seeing what would arrive for him; in other ways, he was filled with trepidation. He knew that Ginny's notes and gifts were having their desired effects. He could feel himself giving in. He wanted to hold her off for as long as he could, to make her realise that what she had done had really hurt him. But he also still loved her as much as ever, and craved having her near him again. He was now wondering what would tip him over the edge, and how long it would be until that happened.

Harry spent the morning at work finalising a disturbance that had occurred overnight, that two newer Aurors had attended. They had completed their job well, and now Harry had to read through the reports and oversee the bonding process. Halfway through that paperwork, he heard a knock at his door. He called out for the person to enter as he assumed it would be Madeline with something for him to sign or with a gift from Ginny. His heart raced a little at the thought of it being something from Ginny. He turned to the door and was surprised to see Charlie's face instead of Madeline's.

"Charlie!"

"Hiya, Harry," Charlie replied. "Were you expecting someone else?"

Harry paused for a moment, taking in the almost too innocent look on Charlie's face. "I assumed it was Madeline coming in, not you."

"Sorry to disappoint you, then!"

"No, no. It's good to see you. And this is twice in one week."

"I know. I doubt I've ever been to the Ministry as often as this before."

"So, what's up?" Harry asked cautiously. He had just realised that Charlie was carrying a large bag. Surely Charlie wasn't bringing him Ginny's gift of the day.

"Oh, I'm on messenger duty," Charlie replied. "For mum. She wanted you to have this and she knew that your workplace would be the only place to get it to you. Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Thanks," Harry replied, taking the bag from Charlie and peering inside. He pulled out a large box which, when opened, revealed a birthday cake and some homemade fudge. "Mmm, I love your mum's cooking."

"Don't we all," Charlie replied. "Where are you living these days?" he asked abruptly.

Harry smiled. "I'll let you all know one day soon."

"Why all the secrecy, then?"

"I just need my privacy."

"Somewhere to hide," Charlie stated.

"Something like that." Harry was not telling him that he had always vowed that the first person he would reveal the house to would be Ginny. With the way that Ginny was wriggling her way back into his life, he did not want to go back on that vow.

"Have you contacted Mira?" Harry asked Charlie, trying to change the subject.

Charlie shook his head.

"Not yet. But Ginny has told me where she works, so I'm going to drop in there later this afternoon and try to persuade her to have drinks with me," Charlie said cheerfully.

"That's great, Charlie."

"Sure is, and Ginny was more than happy to tell me where she works, so that means that she can't be too upset at the thought of her brother seeing her friend."

Harry nodded in agreement, but he didn't want to talk about Ginny so he avoided saying anything about her. Charlie looked at Harry carefully. Harry knew that Charlie realised he was avoiding that particular topic, and he knew that Charlie would not give up.

"Have you any plans for today?" Charlie asked.

"Not really," he replied. "I thought that I might see if Hermione and Ron want to have lunch. Do you want to come?"

"That'd be good. I'd come along, but I promised Mum I'd help her today."

"Oh, well. We'll just have to wait for that Quidditch game."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "Have you got any other presents today?" he asked casually.

Harry laughed at Charlie's innocent act. "You're in on all of this, aren't you?"

"All of what?" replied Charlie, with an innocent look still on is face.

"Come on, Charlie. You know what she's planning. I know you're helping her in some way," he said. "And I know that you're trying to find out bits of information to pass on."

Charlie grinned at him. "Oh, all right. Is the plan working?"

"I'm not saying anything to you," Harry said with a smile. "You'll find out at the right time one way or another."

"You're no fun with this, Harry," said Charlie. "Can you just tell me if you liked the presents?"

"I like the presents," Harry replied, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice and expressions.

"Okay, then. I can see that you're not going to break. I'll go and leave you in peace."

"Thanks, Charlie," he said with a smile. "Tell your mum that I love the cake and fudge."

"I will," Charlie replied as he walked to Harry's office door.

"Oh, Charlie. Good luck with Mira later."

Charlie grinned. "I'll do fine, don't worry about that. And, Harry, I expect you're going to love what's coming your way soon."

Harry looked at Charlie questioningly. Charlie gave him a wink and left the office.

Harry groaned and wondered, yet again, what Ginny was sending today. Seeing that Charlie had mentioned it, he knew it would be interesting. He took a piece of fudge and turned back to his work.

An hour later, Madeline appeared at his door with an envelope and a bunch of mixed flowers.

"These just arrived for you, Mr. P…Harry," she said, handing him the flowers. "They're lovely flowers, but it's a strange mix."

Harry looked at the flowers and gulped. He knew why they were mixed that way.

"It is a strange mix, but I know why they are this way," he replied, not looking at Madeline, but keeping his gaze on the flowers in front of him.

Madeline stayed at the door for a while, before leaving when she realised that Harry was not going to explain any further. Harry closed the door with a quick wand stroke and stared at the flowers. The mix of flowers did look strange. There were pink and red camellias, mixed colours of gerberas, calla lilies, and a single red rose in full bloom. They were the same flowers that he had sent Ginny after the war, when she had been uncomfortable around him. He Conjoured a vase, Charmed it full of water, and placed the flowers in them.

_This is it_, he thought. This was what was going to topple him. A bunch of flowers; flowers that meant a lot to both him and Ginny. Flowers that he had sent to Ginny on her birthdays and on other special occasions.

He opened the envelope next. Inside was a photograph. As he slowly pulled it out and got a proper look at it, his breath hitched in his throat.

"Holy mother of Merlin!" he exclaimed.

He turned it over to see if anything was written on the back. It was blank. He slowly turned it over and looked at it closely. He could see Ginny's bare right shoulder, with her gloriously red hair flowing over her left one. On her bare shoulder was the image of a Hungarian Horntail, in full colour, with its tail travelling onto her right upper arm and wrapping around it.

Harry put the photo face down on his desk, and put his head in his hands with his elbows on his desk. He sat like that for a few minutes, then sat up and looked at the photo again.

"Fuck, Ginny," he said, running his hands through his already messy hair.

He could feel his body responding to the photo. The tattoo was a huge turn on for him. If he had thought the flowers had pushed him over the edge, he knew that this had helped him tumble down the other side.

He had to do something to control himself, he thought. If he sat there looking at the flowers and the photo, he would be tempted to go and find her, and pull her into his arms. As much as he would enjoy that, he knew that they needed to talk before anything like a hug, or more, could happen. He stood up and walked out of his office and headed towards the Auror training rooms.

Luckily for Harry, none of the training rooms were in use, so he went into the nearest one, closed the door and Charmed it locked. He turned to the training dummies that were gathered at one end of the long room and started firing spell after spell at them. The dummies were not returning spells, as they could, but that did not stop Harry. He kept firing spells at them for close to an hour. As he did, he tried to get rid of the memory of Ginny's photo. But the more he tried to forget about it, the more he did remember it and thought about it and that made him want to see her and see the tattoo for himself.

After another half an hour he was covered in sweat and feeling a little worn out. Unfortunately, the extra training had not done what he had hoped. The Hungarian Horntail was almost floating in front of his eyes. He decided to clean up and head out in the hope of finding Ron, Hermione or George to help distract him.

Harry walked out of the training room with his shirt stuck to him and his hair plastered against his head, probably at strange angles, and walked straight into two people who were just outside of the door. He immediately took in that one of them was Kingsley, who was looking at him curiously. He turned his attention to the other and his heart started beating doubly as fast.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note**: Once again: a huge thank you to the wonderful **mew-tsubaki **for her beta work, for being a sounding board for some of my crazy ideas, and for letting me use Mira.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Ginny watched the owl fly away from the Burrow with the large bunch of flowers and the envelope containing the photograph of her Hungarian Horntail tattoo. She had charmed the flowers so that they would arrive at Harry's office still looking as though they had just come from a garden.

She had thoroughly enjoyed sending Harry all of the presents and notes over the past few days. She was very pleased at her ingenuity which allowed her to get the treacle tart to Harry at his home. Charlie had mentioned to her on Monday, after seeing Harry, that he had enjoyed the treacle tart, so she knew that he had received it. She hoped that he had liked the other day's presents as much.

Today was going to be a busy one for her. She had a quick meeting with the Harpies this morning to discuss another contract. It was going to be interesting to see what they would offer her, after basically forcing her to go to the other side of the world for two years. After her meeting, she planned on taking Harry his real birthday present, the one she had bought him in Australia when she was there. Hopefully, he would at least give her the opportunity to give it to him.

As she sat enjoying a mug of tea in the kitchen, Charlie arrived downstairs. He came and sat next to her and looked at her with a charming smile.

"What?" she asked him.

"Why do you think I want something?"

"I know that smile. Ron smiles exactly the same when he wants me to do something for him."

"Well," he drawled. "Now that you mention it, could you please tell me how I could contact Miraphina?"

"Mira? Why do you want to contact her?"

"Do you remember me asking you about a girl I met on Saturday night?"

Ginny nodded, realising where this was going.

"When I saw Harry the other day, I asked him and he told me that her name was Miraphina."

"And?"

"She's your friend and I think I really like her. Can't you tell me?"

"You only saw her at the pub," she stated. "How could you possibly know that you _really_ like her?"

"I liked what I saw and I liked talking to her. I would love a chance to get to know her better. Please, Ginny. Can't you help me?"

Ginny decided to really make Charlie work for the information. She thought that Charlie and Mira would probably go well together. "And why would I want to help you?"

Charlie stood up straight, looking extremely annoyed. "Hey! Haven't I been helping you with your little quest?"

"There's nothing little about my quest," she replied.

"And I haven't told anyone about the dragon."

"Shhh," she hissed. "Mum's around here somewhere."

"Plus, I went and talked to Harry on Monday and found out that he's not against you sending him all of these things. I'm helping you, so surely you can help me."

"All right then," she replied, quite happily. "Mira works at Flourish and Blotts. They usually finish about five o'clock. You could probably catch her there."

Charlie grinned and gave her a big hug. "Thanks, Gin. And just for that, I'll go and visit Harry this morning and see how well he's been taking all these presents."

"Thanks, Charlie. I just sent him the photo. That'll be an interesting reaction, I'm sure," she said grinning.

Charlie rubbed her shoulder. "You'll get there. Don't worry. I think he just needed a bit of time and reassurance."

"I hope you're right, Charlie."

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Ginny walked out of the Harpies' offices with a smile on her face. They had offered her an extremely lucrative contract. It was for another two years, with a lot more money and some better conditions. She would no longer have to live in Holyhead, like the other single players, she would have more choice in sponsorships, and all the equipment supplied to her would be that of her choosing. Really, she couldn't ask for more. But she was going to take the seven days given to her to get the contract checked before signing.

Ginny Apparated to the Ministry of Magic and went through all of the necessary security checks before heading towards the Auror Office. As she walked through the corridors, she wondered how Harry would react to her approaching him. She was so deep in thought, she ran straight into a large body. She looked up to see the minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, smiling down at her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Minister Shacklebolt," she said, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Ginny, you've known me for years; it's Kingsley to you," he replied in his deep, calm voice.

"Sorry, Kingsley. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"It's fine. It's been a long time since I last saw you. Are you back from Australia for good?"

"Yes," she replied happily.

"I bet your parents are happy that you're home."

"Oh, they are."

"And Harry? Have you seen him?"

"Briefly. I'm actually hoping to see him today. It's his birthday," she said, holding up the bag with his present. "Is he around somewhere?"

"He will be somewhere," Kingsley replied. "Come on. Let's check his office."

Ginny walked beside Kingsley down the hall to where the Aurors were housed. He had a quick conversation with a witch whom Ginny assumed was Harry's secretary, and then turned back to her. He gestured for her to follow him out of the Auror Department. Once they were back near the lifts, Kingsley turned to her.

"He was in his office this morning, but about an hour ago he headed out of the Auror Office and down to the training facilities."

"Oh," she said, thinking that she would not be able to see him if he were giving classes.

"He doesn't have a class. We can go down and see what he's doing," Kingsley replied.

"Are you sure? I'm sure you have something more important to do than show me around."

"It's fine, Ginny. I'm happy to show you the way. And to be honest, if this helps Harry be a little happier, it's probably one of the more important things I'll do today."

Ginny hung her head in embarrassment and a little self-loathing. She knew that it was her fault that Harry had been unhappy since Christmas, and she knew that Kingsley realised this as well.

"Hey," Kingsley said to her, making her raise her eyes to meet his. "I know something happened between the two of you, but it can't be all your fault."

Ginny gave Kingsley a half-hearted smile. "This time it is."

"I presume you're trying to work things out?"

"I'm trying to."

"That's good to hear. It's all you can do."

By this stage, they had reached the Auror training rooms. All but one of them was empty. Kingsley looked through the window in the door and watched for a minute, before gesturing for Ginny to join him. She looked through the window to see Harry firing spells very quickly at a bunch of training dummies. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He looked totally focused on what he was doing. He had obviously been there for quite a while as he was extremely sweaty; his shirt stuck to his toned torso and his hair was plastered to his head. Ginny was amazed at his ability to fire jinxes and hexes so quickly and accurately. It had been a long time since she had seen Harry in battle mode, and it was an awe-inspiring sight. They watched Harry for a while longer until he abruptly turned towards the door and walked quickly towards them. They had enough time to take a step back before the door opened and Harry walked into them. Harry looked at Kingsley first and then straight at her. She could see him gulp before he spoke.

"Ginny!"

She smiled at him, feeling embarrassed that he had caught her staring at him. Eventually she was able to speak. "Hi, Harry. Happy Birthday."

"Thanks," he replied, looking at her strangely, before turning to the minister. "Did you need me?"

"No. I was just showing Ginny the way down here so that she could see you. Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Thanks."

Kingsley quickly looked between the two of them. "Right, I'm sure you have lots to discuss, so I'll leave you to it. Oh, and Harry, if you need to, you are more than welcome to take the rest of the week off. You deserve a break."

Ginny chuckled at Kingsley's fairly obvious comment. Harry looked a little embarrassed. They watched the Minister for Magic walk away before turning towards each other. Ginny felt a little awkward as they stood looking at each other. She imagined that Harry was feeling the same way. Eventually, she offered Harry the bag containing his present.

"Here, I hope you like it," she said.

Harry took the bag and peered inside and then looked at her. "Ginny, you didn't have to get me anything."

"I wanted to, Harry. I got it in Australia for you. I thought it would come in handy."

He looked into the bag again. "Should I open it here?"

"If you want."

Harry pulled the parcel out of the bag and turned it over. He slowly removed the wrapping and held his present up. It was a full-length waterproof coat that Ginny had seen Harry investigating in Australia on one of his visits.

"Ginny…"

"It's a Driza-Bone."

"I looked at them when we visited that place in the middle of Australia."

"I know. I thought that it'd be handy when you're out on a mission in the rain."

"It will be. Thanks," he said as he slid his arms into the sleeves. He rubbed his hands up and down the sleeves of the coat, and then turned around slowly. "Does it look okay?"

"Yeah. It fits really well."

"Wow! Thanks, this is great, but you really didn't have to."

"So you said, but I did," she replied. "Have you had a nice day so far?" she asked, trying to find out whether he had received the photo and flowers.

Harry looked at her strangely and when she kept her eyes focused upon him, he broke eye contact and blushed. After a few seconds, he swallowed and looked back at her.

"Charlie was in earlier," he said. "He brought a present from your mum, a cake and some fudge."

"I saw her baking this morning," she replied. She was starting to find this small talk frustrating. She really wanted to talk to him about more personal things, but she was having trouble broaching the subject.

"Charlie said he's going to ask Miraphina out for drinks. He sounds like he's really keen."

"Yeah. He said you talked to her the other night."

"Briefly. It was more like a quick hello. She didn't know that you were back. I told her you'd only been back for a couple of days. That was about it. She talked to Charlie for a long time though."

"I must go and see her. It'll be good to catch up," she said and then she decided it was now or never. "Harry, do you think we'd be able to talk?"

"We are talking…"

She raised her eyebrows at him.

Harry sighed and gave a half nod. "Yeah. I guess it's time, but can we go up to my office where I can clean up and we can sit comfortably for this?"

Ginny agreed and they walked back to the lifts, headed back up and into the Auror Office. As they passed his secretary, Harry told her he did not want to be interrupted by anyone. Ginny waited for him as he showered and changed in the small bathroom in his office.

While Harry was cleaning up, she looked around the office, as she had never been in there before. Before this, Harry had always been out in the general workspace behind his secretary's desk. This office was quite large, with a large window, which today was charmed to be sunny. He had a big board on one wall that had a map of Europe on it as well as several pictures with descriptions underneath. A bookshelf was against the opposite wall, which was full of defence books as well as his old school texts. There were photos of his parents, Sirius, Remus, the Weasleys and Teddy Lupin on the wall, and a Holyhead Harpies team poster, too. Ginny looked on his desk and was surprised to see her photo decorating his desk. She wandered over, picked up that photo and another of the two of them together, and stared down at them. She was still standing there when Harry came out of the bathroom, looking and smelling much better. The cologne that he was wearing almost made her weak at the knees. It reminded her of their past together.

She looked at Harry as he came to stand beside her. "You kept these. I thought you would have gotten rid of them after Christmas."

Harry shrugged. "I couldn't," he replied. "I was going to. I was so angry and upset and I didn't know what to think, but I couldn't get rid of these."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"It would have made it real," he replied just as quietly.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't want to upset you. I...I just thought that it was the right thing to do."

"Why would telling me to see other girls be the right thing to do?" he asked as he sat in one of the armchairs. "I thought things were fine."

Ginny stayed standing. She looked at Harry who was looking exactly the same as when she had said that to him at Christmas. "It was just so uncomfortable at the Burrow at Christmas. Everyone was there, and we were all stuck inside together. We didn't have any time together and I started thinking that you preferred it that way."

"Gin..."

"I realise now that I was wrong. We should have talked then, but I was so confused. All my letters from my family had mentioned that they hadn't seen much of you. I hadn't heard from you in ages. I thought you had met someone else and were too afraid to tell me. I wanted to give you the option of an easy way out."

"You thought that _I'd_ met someone else?" he asked, looking amazed. "That's what I thought after Christmas, but about you. I thought you'd met someone in Australia and were trying to let me down easily. I wondered for weeks why you had said that, and the only thing that made sense was that you fell in love with someone else."

Ginny could feel the tears running down her face. She had not thought about Harry seeing it that way. For the thousandth time she mentally kicked herself for being so stupid. Why hadn't she said something to him about how she was feeling instead of making rash remarks?

"Believe me, Harry. I did not meet anyone in Australia that means a millionth as much as you do."

Harry stared at her for a long time. "What a mess," he said eventually.

"You can say that again," she replied.

"What a mess!"

Ginny started laughing. "What can we do? I feel like everything has been turned totally upside down. I don't know what to do, anymore."

"What do you want to do?" Harry asked bluntly.

Ginny sat down on the armchair facing Harry's and rested her hands in her lap. Her eyes started off looking downwards, but slowly raised to meet his. "Honestly?" she asked.

Harry nodded.

"I just want things to be the way they were, before I had to go overseas. But I'm worried that it isn't possible, that you don't want me anymore. I know I hurt you, Harry. I didn't mean to, but I really thought I was doing the right thing at the time. And I wouldn't blame you if you told me to go away and that you never want to see me again."

"Not seeing you again would be an extremely hard thing to achieve. Your family is basically my family, remember?"

"I know. I could go away again, I suppose."

"Ginny, you don't have to do that," he said with a smile.

"Good, I was just starting to enjoy being home," she replied. "So, Harry, what would you like to do? Honestly?"

"Ginny, I would love for things to be the same as before you went away, too, but I don't know if that's totally possible."

Ginny's heart dropped; her stomach churned. "Oh," she said quietly.

"We're older now," he continued. "Things have changed."

"So, you don't want to work things out, then?" she asked, her eyes dropping back to look at her hands in her lap.

Harry slid out of his chair and kneeled in front of her. He used a finger to raise her chin so that she was looking back into his eyes. "I didn't say that, Ginny."

"Oh!" she said. "What did you say?"

"Well, I didn't really get the chance to say it properly."

"Sorry."

"That's okay," he said with a smile. "What I meant was that we can't go back; we need to move forward. And I want to move forward with you."

"Oh!"

"Is that all you can say?"

"No," she said. The tears had started running down her cheeks again. "I just didn't know if you'd want that, too."

"Merlin, Ginny! Do you know how much I have missed you? Not just since Christmas - the whole bloody time you've been away."

"I missed you, too, Harry."

Harry reached for her hands and pulled her off the chair so that she was sitting in his lap. His lips were soon on hers and she took no time in returning the kiss. One of his hands moved up to tangle in her hair against the back of her head, and the other was playing with the hem of her shirt. As their mouths opened and their tongues met for the first time in months, she ran her fingers up and down his back and eventually pulled his shirt out from his jeans so that she could feel his smooth, bare skin. Harry's mouth moved from hers to place small kisses along her jaw to her ear and then down her neck. She could not stop herself from moaning as his mouth caressed her skin. His hands moved so that they were both resting on her shoulders. He started moving his left hand over the back of her shoulder and over her upper arm in slow circles.

"Now, when are you going to tell me about that dragon?" he asked in a husky voice, as he kissed his way back up her throat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** This is a very sweet and fluffy chapter for the recently reunited duo – be warned!

Also, a huge thank you to **mew-tsubaki** for the super beta work and her help with parts of the story, especially helping me with naming Harry's house!

Oh, and thanks to all the readers out there for the reviews :)

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Harry pulled away from their kiss and looked at Ginny, with a smirk on his face. He had been itching to ask her about the dragon since he had walked out of the training room. He had tried, unsuccessfully, to get rid of that image by training and when that had failed, he went out to run straight into Ginny, which did not help. In fact, it had just increased his awareness of her and what was on her shoulder and arm, under that shirt. Thankfully, she had distracted him for a while by giving him his unexpected birthday present, which he thought was amazing, and then by almost insisting on talking about their relationship.

To start with, he was not particularly keen to talk about their relationship issues, but as they started he found it quite satisfying. He had no idea that Ginny had thought he was not interested in her any more. He had not realised that he had been distant with the rest of the Weasleys, and that they had mentioned that to Ginny. If they had thought that, it was no wonder that Ginny had been concerned. He wished that she had talked to him about it, though. Finding that out from Ginny helped him to work things out for good inside his head and to really forgive her.

Ginny looked up at him, from her place in his lap, with her big brown eyes and smiled. "Ah, so you did get the photo."

"Merlin, Ginny!" he exclaimed, running his hand over her right shoulder again. "Why do you think I was down in the training room? It certainly wasn't just for fun or to train."

She smirked at him. He groaned.

"Didn't you like it?" she teased.

"Fuck!" he muttered, under his breath. "Like it? Good Godric, Ginny. You must be joking. I couldn't get that image out of my head. I still can't, for that matter. I was firing off spell after spell, but all I could see was that photo. When did you get it done?"

"Just after Christmas, once I'd gotten back to Australia. I was feeling a little down, 'cause I didn't want to let you go, but I felt at the time that I had to, so I needed something to remember you by. I was thinking of something a little smaller, and not a dragon, but when I went to get it, I changed my mind."

"So you went and got my tattoo?"

"Well, I'd asked you a number of times and you always found a way out of it," she returned.

He chuckled and shrugged. "Maybe you hadn't encouraged me enough," he teased.

She shook her head at him. "I gave you plenty of encouragement, in more ways than one."

"You didn't quite get it right, you know."

"How?"

"You wanted me to get it on my chest," he replied. He reached out and pulled at the neck of her shirt and made to peer down it. "I can't see it on your chest."

Ginny swatted him and laughed. "You prat. I think you're just looking for an excuse to look down my shirt."

He gave her a sly grin. "Maybe," he replied, raising his eyebrows a few times.

Ginny looked at him carefully. "What next?" she asked.

"I was planning on going and finding Ron and Hermione, or George and go and get something to eat," he said. "But…now that you're here…"

Ginny smiled. "I hope that you think it's a good thing that I'm here."

"Oh, definitely."

"Would you like to go and get something to eat, then?" she asked. "A nice birthday lunch."

"Hmmm. I am feeling a little hungry, but I don't really feel like going out somewhere. I also don't want to stay here."

"Where could we go?"

Harry had already decided where they were going. Now that things seemed to be sorted out, it was time to do what he had planned on doing at Christmas.

"I have an idea," he said, gently lifting her off his lap and standing up. He pulled her up to face him and could not help himself. He lowered his mouth to meet hers gently. As he pulled away from her, she pulled him back down and continued their kiss.

"I like this idea," she whispered close to his ear.

"Me, too," he replied as he kissed her jaw.

As they continued to kiss, their hands became more adventurous. Harry's were under her shirt travelling across her flat abdomen and lower back. Ginny's hands were circling across his buttocks. He was tempted to pull her shirt off her and to look at the dragon properly, but he knew that his office was not the place to do that, even with the door well and truly locked. He reluctantly pulled away and Ginny moaned in frustration.

"Let's get out of here,' he said. Harry moved to his desk and picked up the bag containing his present from Ginny, and the one containing Molly Weasley's cake and fudge. He handed Ginny the bunch of flowers, which she held to her face and enjoyed the heady scent. Lastly, he picked up the photo, studied it again and then looked at Ginny, before tucking it in his pocket.

He led her to the door and followed her out. Madeline looked up as they walked out and looked between he and Ginny with her eyebrows raised.

"I'll be out for the rest of the day and possibly the rest of the week," he said. Madeline's eyebrows rose even higher, if possible. He could hear Ginny chuckling beside him, and had to really control himself so that he wouldn't laugh as well.

"Um…okay," Madeline replied, gaining a little composure as she spoke.

"Contact Kingsley if there are any problems," he said, before leading Ginny to a corner of the Auror office where there was nothing except a fireplace.

"What are we doing?" Ginny asked.

"This is the special Auror Floo and Apparition point," he explained. "We can't go running through the halls of the Ministry if there's an emergency. It would take too long."

"That makes sense," she replied. "Where are we going?"

Harry put his arms around her. "Hold on tight," he said, before Apparating them away.

Harry landed outside of the wards surrounding his property. Ginny was looking around them at the sun-drenched countryside, obviously a little confused to where they were standing.

"Where are we?" she asked.

He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "Harry Potter lives at Six Phoenix Path."

Ginny looked up at him curiously. "Phoenix Path?"

"Take a look," he said, indicating the house in front of her.

He watched Ginny, as she looked at the house and land, which would have just appeared in front of her. She looked totally shocked at first and then he saw wonderment appear just before she turned to him.

"This is where you live?"

"It is."

"Wow!"

Harry laughed at her. "Wow?"

She smiled at him and then launched herself at him with a hug that rivalled one of her mum's.

"What's this for?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her slender frame.

"You're showing me where you live. No one else knows where you live, and you're showing me."

He pulled away from her and saw tears running down her cheeks. He wiped some off her cheeks. "Why the tears?"

"Because you're actually showing me. You must really forgive me, if you're showing me," she said quietly through the tears.

"Of course I forgive you, Ginny," he said, pulling her close again and kissing her on the forehead. "It's not like you actually did anything wrong. Of course, it would have been better and much easier if you'd talked to me about what you were thinking." He could feel her head nodding against his shoulder and his shirt getting damp from her tears. "But it's okay. It was tough for a while, but we're over that now. Let's move on, Gin."

"Thank-you, Harry," she said against his chest.

"For what?"

"Being understanding. You could have just told me to get lost, but you didn't. You've given me another chance, and I'm really grateful for that."

"Ginny, you would have had to have done something really bad for me to tell you to get lost. I love you, Ginny Weasley. I have for years and the time away from each other and the distance between us did not change that. I may have been a little distant when you arrived home, but that was self-preservation. I knew that it wouldn't take long for you to find your way back to me."

Ginny chuckled. "You mean I didn't have to send you all those gifts?"

"Well…" he drawled. "I don't know about that. It may have taken a little longer without those."

"Ah, okay. I'm glad they helped my cause."

"Oh, I knew as soon as I saw that treacle tart was from you, that it wouldn't be long. It was just a question of how long I could go without giving in."

Ginny looked up at him with a twinkle in her beautiful brown eyes and a mischievous smile. "So, how long would it have taken you, if I didn't come into the Ministry today?"

Harry groaned. "After seeing that photo and then the workout not helping, it probably wouldn't have taken long at all."

"Good. I have no idea what I could have done to top that," she said.

Harry leaned down and kissed her hard. "I have some ideas, but I can't imagine them being appropriate for the Auror Office."

She reached up and kissed him again. "Probably not, but we could maybe try them out a little later," she said teasingly.

"Good Godric, Ginny," he said. "Are you trying to kill me? Let's have a look at the house before I take a proper look at that dragon, or more, here in the lane."

Ginny smiled and pulled both his hands so that they moved towards the gate. "The house is beautiful, Harry. When did you move here?"

"I bought it last October, and moved in pretty much straight away. Kreacher has helped me fix it up inside and out."

"You bought it?" she asked amazed.

He nodded and started leading her up the path, through the garden.

"I thought you might have rented it to hide away from everyone after Christmas," she said, looking around at the garden as they walked.

"No, I was sick of the city. I knew that it was time to find something more permanent. I thought about rebuilding at Godric's Hollow, but that would have taken quite a while. When I saw this, I knew it was perfect."

Ginny looked around them. "It's lovely. The garden is beautiful and the house looks wonderful. Its so nice and quiet here."

"It is quiet. There's a big paddock out the back surrounded by huge trees, so I'm going to make a Quidditch pitch out there one day."

He watched Ginny's eyes light up.

"That'd be great, Harry. We could…"

He looked at her curiously, not sure why she had stopped. "What's wrong?"

She blushed and looked down.

"We could do what, Ginny?"

She slowly looked back up at him. "I was going to say that we could invite everyone over and have family games and dinners."

"What's wrong with that? That's what I imagined, too."

"I said _we_. Then I realised that I was taking things a little for granted."

Harry smiled. He hadn't even realised or worried about her saying _we_. But he didn't want to go into detail about it, either. He had something in mind for a little later to address that, but he wanted to at least show her the house first. "It's okay, Ginny. I hadn't even noticed."

"Oh."

"Why don't we go inside?" he asked her, hopefully taking her mind off the previous topic of conversation. He took her hand and led her into the house.

As soon as they walked through the front door Kreacher appeared, wringing his hands with worry. "Master Harry, sir. Kreacher hasn't been expecting you home. Kreacher has nothing prepared for lunch," he said, almost nervously. "Oh Miss Ginny, you're here. It is good to see you again."

"Thanks, Kreacher," Ginny replied.

"I'm sorry, Kreacher. I wasn't planning on coming home for lunch," he said to his elf. "Ginny came and visited me at the Ministry today."

Kreacher looked at Ginny and smiled. "Kreacher is pleased you visited Master Harry, Miss Ginny. He has not been happy since you went away."

Ginny smiled at the elf. "I'm back for good now, Kreacher."

"That will please my master, Kreacher thinks," the old elf said. "Master Harry had such great plans for Christmas time and…"

"Thanks, Kreacher," Harry interrupted. He did not need Kreacher to accidentally share his secrets and plans with Ginny.

Ginny looked at him with an inquiring face. She had obviously picked up on what the elf had been saying.

"Later, Ginny, I promise," he said to her, before turning to his elf. "Kreacher, could you please organise us some sandwiches? I'm just going to show Ginny around and then we'll eat."

Kreacher nodded and rushed off to the kitchen. Harry turned to Ginny. "I'll give you the tour and then we can talk some more, okay?"

She nodded in agreement. Harry reached for her hand and led her down the hallway. He gestured to the paintings, which decorated the walls where they were walking. "I found these and some others in Sirius' and my family vault. Kreacher cleaned them up and then we could actually see what had been painted. I put the darker ones back in the vault, but these are quite nice," he said. "My favourite is definitely the one of Hogwarts."

Ginny followed him down the hall and into the sitting room. As soon as they had walked into the room, she headed straight to the window, which overlooked the back paddock. "Oh, this will be perfect for Quidditch, Harry," she said excitedly.

He joined her at the window and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She snuggled into his embrace, and looked up into his eyes happily. They stood at the window quietly for a long time, enjoying each other's company, but not saying a word. This was the companionship and closeness that he had really missed over the past two years. He was so happy that there was an opportunity of this continuing.

Harry gradually showed her around the downstairs rooms of his house. She exclaimed at the size of the kitchen and how well it was fitted out, and enjoyed studying all of the photos that graced the walls of his sitting room and study. The more recent photos of his godson, Teddy, amazed her as she hadn't seen him since she had returned to England. She found his owl, Aesir, in his study, as well, and spent a long time crooning and petting him.

After their explorations downstairs, Harry quickly showed her the upstairs rooms. He used this part of the tour to grab a small box from the draw of his bedside table, which he quickly his away in his pocket while Ginny was looking elsewhere.

They eventually returned to the kitchen to eat the meal that Kreacher had prepared for them. While they were eating, they talked about Charlie's chances of tempting Ginny's great friend, Miraphina, into joining him for a drink, and then Ron and Hermione's upcoming wedding.

After eating, Harry led Ginny out into the paddock at the back of his house where he Conjoured a blanket for them to sit on. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently. This kiss stayed calm and relaxed; passionate yet not rushed. He gradually kissed his way along her jaw to her ear, which caused her to moan. Harry loved hearing her moan like that, and smiled at hearing her.

Ginny looked up at him. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is perfect," he replied. "I'm here with you in my arms. What more could I want?"

She cupped his jaw with the palm of her hand, and smiled. "Harry? What plans was Kreacher talking about before?"

He wasn't surprised that Ginny had brought that up. He could tell at the time that the elf's words had intrigued her, and it was probably time to talk some more.

"I didn't tell anyone else about this place when I found it, or after I bought it. I know that your parents and Ron and Hermione worked out that I had moved out of my flat and wasn't living at Grimmauld Place, but I didn't want to even tell them that I had bought a place of my own."

"Why? They're your family and friends."

"I know. I will tell them soon. But I really wanted to tell you and show you first."

"Oh, Harry," she said. "You could have told them after what happened at Christmas."

"I could have, but I had promised myself that you would be first, plus I wasn't particularly happy, either."

"What would you have done if we didn't get back together?"

"I guess I would have eventually shown them. Luckily, neither of us has to worry about that," he said happily.

"Thank Merlin! So that was your plan? You were going to bring me here and show me the house."

Harry smiled at her. "I was. I thought that it would help us get through the last few months of you being away."

"Oh, Harry. I'm sorry. I really..."

"Ginny, stop apologising, please," he said, cutting her off. "It's been all said and done and is now sorted out."

She leaned over and kissed him. "I love you, Harry."

"I love you, too," he replied.

Ginny moved in to kiss him again, but he stopped her before her lips could touch his.

"You know, Gin, there was more to the plan for Christmas than just showing you the house."

"Really?" she asked curiously.

Harry nodded and smiled. "Uh huh," he replied, deliberately taking his time in telling her any more.

She sighed in frustration and swatted him with her hand. "Am I going to hear what the rest of this plan was?"

He pretended to think about it for a while.

"Harry!" she exclaimed.

He laughed at her exclamation and then looked at her seriously. "Oh, all right," he said and reached out to hold both her hands. He looked into her brown eyes and gulped before speaking. "Ginny, I love you. I have for a long time and I know that there is no one else that I could possibly want to spend my life with. Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note:** A big thank you to mew-tsubaki for her beta work, her help with bits and pieces and for letting me use Mira.

And thanks to those readers out there for the reviews up to now. Sorry about the wait for this - real life took over!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Ginny sat looking at Harry with her mouth wide open. _Did he just ask me to marry him? No way!_ The last thing she had expected to happen that day was for him to propose to her. She eventually realised that Harry was staring at her strangely, waiting for her to say something. For some reason she couldn't get her mouth to work. She wanted to answer him. This had been a dream of hers for years. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but nothing came out.

"Ginny, are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded and tried to speak to him. Tears were welling in her eyes.

"Ginny?"

"Yes," she eventually croaked out.

"Are you okay? You're really worrying me at the moment. I thought you would have answered me," he said nervously.

"Yes," she said louder. Then she launched herself into his arms and the tears started running down her cheeks. "Yes, Harry. That's my answer: yes. I'm all right, and yes, I'll marry you."

Harry's arms pulled her right up against him and his lips were on hers. He very quickly ran his tongue along her bottom lip, tempting her mouth open so their tongues could tease each other's. Her hands moved across his back and up and down his arms. Harry cupped her jaw with his hands and started kissing her down the front of her neck. He gently kissed her collar bone and then pulled away to look at her.

"You really had me worried there for a while, you know," he said, as he brushed some hair away from her face.

"I was in shock," she replied. "This was the last thing I expected to happen today."

Harry laughed. "Well, as I said, I actually planned on asking you at Christmas, but that didn't happen, so once I heard your story today and realised it was just a huge misunderstanding on both our parts, I decided why not."

"Why not, indeed."

Harry pulled away from her and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. "I've actually had this for a while. I hope you like it."

She nodded even before seeing it. Anything he chose would be all right by her.

He opened the box slowly and turned it around to face her. When she saw the ring, her jaw dropped for the second time that afternoon. It was amazing, probably exactly what she would choose for herself. Harry took the ring from the box and held it out to put it on her ring finger. Once the ring was on her finger she lifted her hand to admire the ring. There were two offset diamonds randomly surrounded by small emeralds. It wasn't a showy ring that would stand out, but it was unique and beautiful.

"Oh, Harry," she said, looking at him lovingly. "It's perfect. I love it!"

"When I saw it, it just stuck out as _the_ ring that you would love, so I got it, then and there."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said and she reached out and grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to her.

A while later, Harry led her inside to the kitchen where the table was set beautifully with plates, silver cutlery and candles burning in an elaborate candlestick. She could smell steaks cooking away and her mouth watered.

"Kreacher, what…"

"Kreacher has made dinner for Master Harry's birthday."

Ginny laughed at Harry's sigh of relief. He must have thought that Kreacher had been spying on them.

"Thanks, Kreacher," he said, before helping her to sit down.

Once Kreacher had finished serving them, Harry asked the elf to leave them. After Kreacher had left the room, they started eating and talking.

"When would you like to get married, Ginny?" Harry asked.

Ginny looked at him and shrugged slightly. "I don't really know. When do you think?"

"Gin, I'd marry you tomorrow," he said, looking at her intently.

"Hmm, that may be a little hard to organise," she said laughing.

Harry stood up and took a calendar from the wall. He flicked it over to August and pointed at a date: August eleventh. Her birthday.

"My birthday?" she asked, amazed. She then needed to clarify it even more. "This year or next year?"

"This year. I'm not waiting another year, Ginny. It's your twenty-first birthday. That's a great reason to have a party. Why not add a wedding to it?"

Ginny looked at him. He was so enthusiastic about this that it made her heart melt with love. And honestly, she did not want to wait too long to get married. If it could be organised, she would love to get married on her birthday. Then she had an idea. "Maybe we could make it a surprise wedding. I could tell everyone that it's a birthday party and then tell them at the party that we're getting married."

Harry stared at her. To start with he looked a little worried, but a smile gradually grew on his face. "That's a great idea, but we'd need some help organising it."

"Mum and Dad?" she suggested.

"Good idea," he said, pointing his fork at her as he spoke. "They would love to be in on the secret. I'd hate to keep it from them."

"Should we let everyone know that we're back together, or should we spring that on them, too?" she asked him with a cheeky smile.

"That's evil, Ginny. But it does sound fun," he replied. "So we'll only tell your mum and dad."

"Okay, it's going to be hard pretending that we're not together, though."

"We'll just have to keep clear of Ron and Hermione, in particular. Or if we do see them, we'll have to be alone, 'cause Hermione will figure things out. I've got lots of holidays stocked up, so I'll owl Kingsley and let him know I need a month off."

"A month?" she asked.

"Don't you want a honeymoon?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Of course I do."

"Oh, Merlin! What about the Harpies?"

"I had a meeting with them this morning and was offered a new contract. It's pretty good, actually. I haven't signed it yet, so I can work something out with them. They owe me after sending me away. Don't worry about them."

"Good. The season doesn't start 'til mid-September, anyway. It wouldn't mess up their games."

"Honestly, I wouldn't care if it did. You are way more important than them."

Harry grinned at her. "Thanks, Gin."

**Xx-H&G-xX**

An hour later Ginny and Harry Apparated to the Burrow and walked up to the kitchen door. Harry was under his Invisibility Cloak in case any of her brothers or their respective partners were visiting. She preceded him into the kitchen to find her parents sitting enjoying some treacle tart. She could hear Harry behind her moan in appreciation at the dessert, which made her chuckle. Her parents looked up at the noise.

"Ginny, there you are," Molly said.

"Hi. Is anyone else here?" she asked them.

"No, it's just us. Charlie said he'd be back late. He was stopping off at Bill's on his way home from wherever he was going," said her mum.

"Good," she said.

Harry removed his Invisibility Cloak and her parents exclaimed in delight.

"Harry," said Arthur. "Good to see you."

Harry walked over to her dad and they shook hands. She watched her mother look between the two of them and then saw her smile get larger and larger. Her mum nodded her head between her and Harry, and Ginny smiled and nodded in reply. She was very quickly engulfed in a Molly Weasley hug. Harry was soon grabbed and pulled into the hug, too.

"I guess you two have worked things out, then," said Arthur. "That's great to see."

"Everyone will be so pleased," Molly said.

"Ah, about that, Mum," she said. "We need you both to keep it a secret for a little while."

"Why in the name of Merlin..."

Ginny stopped her mother by raising her hand. "We have a bit more to tell you."

Harry shuffled nervously beside her and her parents looked at both of them curiously. Her mum looked quite worried, but she could tell by the look on her dad's face that he had some idea what she was about to say.

"Harry and I are engaged. He asked me to marry him this afternoon."

Her mum immediately looked at her left hand and when she saw that there was a ring there, she quickly grabbed her daughter's hand to look at it.

"Oh, it's beautiful," Molly gushed. "This is...is...so...Oh, Merlin. I'm so excited."

Ginny found herself and Harry once again in a hug but this time it was from both her mum and dad. Once they were released from the hug, they all sat at the table. Ginny made sure that Harry was right next to her so she could enjoy the closeness that she had been missing. Harry seemed torn between holding her and eating treacle tart.

Arthur Weasley looked between Ginny and her new fiancé. "Are there any more surprises that you want to spring on us?"

Ginny glanced at Harry who was doing the same to her. They both blushed a little before looking back at her parents.

"All right, just tell us," Arthur said matter-of-factly.

"Well," Harry said quietly and slowly. "You see, we're planning on getting married on Ginny's birthday..."

"This year," Ginny concluded.

"But that's only just over a week away." Molly exclaimed.

"We know," she replied. "We've been apart for so long and through so much that we really don't want to wait any longer."

"It's Ginny's twenty-first birthday and we thought we could combine a birthday party and a wedding," Harry said.

"And we want it to be a surprise for everyone else," she said. "We don't actually want anyone else to know that we're back together. We'll...well, _I'll_ send out invitations to my birthday party and tell them it's a dressy party. When everyone's there, we'll spring it on them."

Her parents sat quietly at the table for quite a while. Ginny could tell that her mother was already making plans in her head. It was hard to tell what her dad was thinking. Harry looked at her with a worried look. He obviously thought that her parents were against the idea. Ginny knew that they weren't; if they were against the idea they would already be discussing this, probably quite heatedly.

Arthur was the first to speak. "Who will you get to marry you? You're going to have to let someone else know, so that the proper paperwork is organised, and secretly, too. You don't want that news released to the public."

"Merlin, no," Molly said. "That would spoil all the plans."

"I knew you were planning away there," Ginny said to her mum.

Before Molly could reply, Harry interrupted them: "Kingsley."

"What about him?" Ginny asked.

"He can marry us," Harry replied. "He can get the paperwork done without anyone finding out and he'd probably love to be in-the-know."

"Great idea, Harry," said Arthur. "He's a perfect choice."

"Excellent!" Molly exclaimed as she Summoned parchment and a quill. "Harry, you can talk to him about that, and you and Ginny can sort out who you're inviting, and Ginny, you'll have to write and send those."

"Mum's in her element," Ginny said to her fiancé as they both nodded at her mum's request. Harry laughed in reply and leaned over and kissed her gently.

"Arthur, you can make sure the garden is ready. The weather is nice just now, so hopefully we won't need to Charm shelter. Ginny, you and Harry will have to organise what you're going to wear..."

"Mum, calm down," she said. "Harry and I know what we need to do. We would love you to organise the food for us and get the Burrow ready. We'll get flowers and our clothes and all of the other things ready. Okay?"

"The cake?" her mum asked.

"You can definitely do the cake," Ginny stated.

"Cake, who's making cake? I'd love cake," Charlie's voice sounded from the doorway.

None of them had heard Charlie arrive. Charlie was looking at Harry and Ginny sitting close together with a gleam in his eyes and a cheeky smile.

"Well, well, well," Charlie drawled. "What's going on here?"

The four sitting at the table all groaned together. Ginny dropped her head to the table in frustration.

"Should we tell him?" she asked Harry after turning her head on the table to see her fiancé.

"Of course you should," her brother replied. "Who's been helping you on your mission the past few days?"

Harry nodded at her. He then waved his wand around setting silencing and warning Charms. "I should have done that to start with."

"Have a seat, Charlie," Ginny said. She flourished her wand at her brother. "You are not allowed to tell anyone who is outside of this room anything about this. Understand?"

Charlie nodded as he stared worriedly at the end of her wand.

Ginny and Harry filled Charlie in on what they had already told his parents. When Ginny told him that she and Harry were going to be married in eleven days, Charlie wrapped them both in a huge hug.

"So Mum's making the cake and planning the food, and Dad's getting the Burrow ready. Do you need me to do anything?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Ginny replied, looking at Harry to see if he had any ideas.

Harry nodded. "You can run interference," he said to his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "You can help stop anyone else finding out. Do whatever you need to do, but we want this to be a surprise."

Charlie smiled. "I can do that."

"Excellent," said Arthur, "It'll be easier with Charlie knowing, especially as he's staying here for a couple more weeks."

Ginny turned to her brother, gave him a hug and whispered in his ear. "Thanks, big brother. You really did help this happen. I don't know how to thank you properly."

Charlie moved back away from his sister and sat at the table, helping himself to the remainder of the treacle tart. "You have thanked me," he said with his mouth half full of tart.

"Merlin, Charlie. You're as bad as Ron," she said, looking at her brother's eating habits. "And how did I thank you?" she asked.

"Mira," Charlie replied.

"I guess you saw her then," Harry said.

"Yes, I did," Charlie said, smiling brightly.

"And it went well?" Ginny asked.

Charlie nodded. "I went into Flourish and Blotts just before closing time and there she was checking the shelves. So I placed myself in a row that she had not been to yet, which just happened to be the dragon section and kept myself busy looking at the books. When she came to that section and she saw me, she said hello and that it was lovely to talk to me again after seeing me at the pub the other night. She asked how you were, Ginny, and told me to tell you that she'd love to catch up. Then she saw the dragon book in my hand, and we started talking about dragons for ages."

"That poor girl, Charlie," said Molly, who was busy at the sink, but obviously listening to their discussion.

"Why?" Charlie asked.

"You didn't need to bore her with dragon stories to impress her," the Weasley matriarch said.

"I didn't," Charlie said, almost defiantly. "She likes dragons." He then turned to Ginny. "This is something you failed to tell me, little sister."

"I forgot, Charlie," she replied. When she saw his disbelieving face, she continued. "Honestly, I did. But Care of Magical Creatures was one of her favourite classes."

"Do you know this girl, Ginny?" her mother asked.

"Yes. We became friendly in my seventh year. Hermione was busy studying so much, that I needed some other company. The only problem was that she was in Hufflepuff so we couldn't meet after curfew."

"She's a 'Puff?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Ginny asked, ready to stick up for her friend.

"No, no, not at all," Charlie replied, with a secretive smile.

Harry started laughing. Ginny was a little confused at why Harry was laughing.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, Gin. I'm sure that Charlie is just going over some old memories of a Hufflepuff girl."

"I don't want to know about your sordid love life," she replied.

"Who did you go out with from Hufflepuff, Charlie?" Molly asked. "I don't remember hearing about you and a Hufflepuff girl."

"Maybe there was a good reason for that," said Ginny. She saw Harry raise his eyebrows questioningly at Charlie, and her brother mouth a name in reply, which she couldn't make out.

"Really?" Harry replied, with wide eyes. "Whoa, how was that?" he asked.

"Harry!" she exclaimed.

He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry, Ginny. It just…I…oh, Godric! You know I love you, Gin. I just had to ask, though. I have a few friends who would be well and truly interested in that answer."

Charlie laughed. "She was great…in fact, she was fine," he drawled. "Tell your friends that."

"Charles Weasley!" Molly exclaimed. "Show some respect."

"Sorry, Mum," Charlie replied, trying to sound remorseful, but at the same time winking at Harry.

"So, did Mira go and have a drink with you?" Ginny asked trying to change the subject.

"Not today," Charlie replied. "But she said that if I meet her when she finishes work tomorrow, she may be able to."

"Good," she replied.

"Yeah, good work, Charlie," Harry replied.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Later that evening, Ginny and Harry Apparated back to Six Phoenix Path. Ginny could tell that her mother was not overly impressed that she planned on staying overnight with Harry, but there was no way she was staying at the Burrow and letting Harry go home alone.

They sat themselves on the comfortable couch in Harry's sitting room and cuddled together.

"Harry, this day has ended up being so much better than I could have possibly imagined it would," she said to him quietly.

"What did you imagine would happen today?"

"Honestly, I was just hoping that you'd accept your present and maybe let me talk to you a little about what happened at Christmas."

Harry chuckled. "If you hadn't sent that photo, that probably would have been all that would have happened."

"So the photo was a good plan?"

"Merlin, yes," Harry replied, rubbing his hand over her shoulder and nuzzling into her neck.

Ginny sighed.

"Actually, to be honest, this probably would have happened with or without the photo. It was what we talked about that helped me make up my mind, not the photo."

"Really?"

"Yes, as I said earlier, it wasn't like we did something horrible. It was a huge misunderstanding, and now that it's sorted out, we need to move on."

"Thanks, Harry, for being so understanding."

"Mmmm, that's okay," he said placing small kisses along her jawline, resulting in chills travelling down her spine.

She turned her face to his, bringing her lips in line with his. They quickly pressed their lips together in a long, sweet kiss. A while later, Harry pulled away from her slightly.

"Gin?" he asked with a husky voice and glazed eyes.

"Uh huh," she replied, rubbing her hands over his chest.

"Can I go dragon hunting now?"

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Fifty points to Hufflepuff for anyone who knows who Charlie and Harry were talking about!

Thanks for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to mew-tsubaki for her beta work.

Thanks to you folk out there for the kind reviews - they make my day!

Small warning - this chapter takes off straight from the last when Harry wants to go 'dragon hunting', so the first small bit is...well, not smutty, but getting there.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: All of this belongs to JKR - except Mira who is Mew's.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Harry watched his new fiancé as she started laughing. Her hands had stilled on his chest and he wanted them to keep moving as much as he wanted to see Ginny's dragon for himself. He moved his hand so that it was covering where he imagined the tattoo would be.

"Hmm," Ginny said slowly.

"Please, Gin," he almost pleaded.

Ginny moved his hands to the bottom of her shirt in answer. He slid his fingers under the hem and up the smooth skin of her back to her shoulders and then back down again. He then pulled at the shirt and lifted it up, over her head.

The sight of Ginny sitting next to him wearing only jeans and a lacy, black bra made his breath catch and his heart beat much faster than normal. He also found his jeans were feeling a little uncomfortable. He could just see the tail of the dragon wrapping around her upper arm, so he leaned down and placed tiny kisses where he could see it. Then he pulled her up onto his lap and kissed his way up her arm and onto her shoulder and moved his hands to her back to unclip her bra. At the same time, Ginny was pulling at the hem of his shirt and pushing it up his chest.

They quickly removed the last of their upper clothing, and Harry found he did not know where to look. He really wanted to look at Ginny's dragon, but it was such a long time since he had seen her like this, that he wanted and needed to drink in the sight of her. He ran his hands up from her waist over her ribs and cupped her beautiful breasts, rubbing his thumbs across her taught nipples. Ginny dropped her head back and moaned. He leaned forward and took a nipple into his mouth and sucked and nibbled on it.

"Haaaarrryyy," Ginny moaned.

"Mmmmm, I've missed this," he said as he kissed his way up her body.

"Me, too," she replied before kissing him again.

Harry ran his hands across and then behind her shoulders, following his left hand with his mouth. He slowly turned her on his lap so that he could see the tattoo properly for the first time.

"Amazing," he whispered, running his hands across it and then tracing the outline of the black scaly wings. He gently pulled her closer to him so he could kiss her. "Fuck, Ginny! This is totally amazing. You can see the scales. It must have taken ages to do."

"It took two sessions. It wasn't too bad, I suppose," she replied, turning in his lap to face him again. She ran her hands over his chest, making him shiver. "So when are you getting yours?"

He laughed. "Well, you've got my tattoo. What am I supposed to get?"

She ran her hand from his chest to his upper arm. "You could get one here," she said, pointing to the inside of his right bicep.

"A Horntail, too?" he asked, following her fingers as they made patterns on the sensitive skin under his arm.

"No," she replied, looking thoughtful. "Hmm, how about a stag?"

Harry nodded slightly. "There would have to be a lily somewhere, too," he said. "But I'll worry about that another day. There's something more important right now," he said, lowering his mouth to recapture hers.

He pulled her as close as he possibly could as they kissed and then gathered her up in his arms.

"What…are…you…doing?" she asked between kisses.

"Upstairs," he said as he stood up, keeping her in his arms. He carried her up to his bedroom bridal-style, trying not to be distracted as she kissed his shoulder and neck as he walked.

Once in his room he placed her carefully on his bed so she was lying down, and immediately lowered himself so that he was straddling her with his weight on his forearms and his body just above hers. He slowly kissed her, capturing her lip between his teeth and teasing her tongue with his. He felt her hands rubbing up and down his bare back and then around to caress his chest. Her hands slowly drifted down towards the fastening on his jeans and opened them. He groaned as she brushed against him which caused her to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" he muttered.

"I'm just enjoying myself. It's okay, it's been a while," she said as she continued to rub her hands over him.

"Gin, it's been the same amount of time for me, you know."

"Yes, it has. Something that I'm truly grateful for."

"Me, too."

**Xx-H&G-xX**

The next morning, Harry woke up with Ginny snuggled against him and resting across his right arm. Her right arm was resting on his chest, allowing him to see part of the dragon. He idly traced the outline of the dragon as he thought about the previous day. He was amazed at what had happened and was extremely happy with the outcome. He felt so much more relaxed than he had in years.

Their lovemaking through the night had been much gentler and loving than he would have imagined, especially as it had been quite a time since they had last made love. They had taken their time and made it something special.

While Ginny continued to sleep in his arms he thought about what they now had to do to get organised for Ginny's birthday. His first job would be to visit Kingsley and secure his help in getting the required paperwork organised as well as keeping the news away from anyone else. He realised that he would also have to talk to his secretary, Madeline, and ask her to keep the fact that she had seen him and Ginny together a secret.

Ginny started stirring beside him as he was contemplating what other things he would have to organise for their wedding. She turned in his arms and stretched against him. He watched her slowly wake up; her eyes fluttered and she slowly yawned before she opened her eyes fully and then smiled up at him.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said as he brushed a kiss against her temple.

"It certainly is a good morning," she replied. "Waking up here with you is amazing. And knowing that we're getting married soon is beyond amazing."

He smiled at her enthusiasm. He had certainly missed having her at his side, and not just in bed. "That it is. And I'm going to have to get moving soon."

"Oh, do you have to go?" she asked with a mock pout.

"Yes. I have to see Kinsley and get the paperwork organised and more importantly, I need to go and see Madeline."

"Your secretary?" she asked curiously.

"Yes. She saw us together yesterday. I'm hoping that she hasn't mentioned that to anybody."

"Oh, Merlin!" Ginny exclaimed. "Yes, you had better go in soon."

"What are you planning on doing today?" he asked.

"I might as well go and see Mum and get the invitations started."

He leaned closer to her and brushed her lips with his and then teased her bottom lip with his teeth.

"No time for that, Mr. Potter. Get moving," Ginny demanded while prodding him in the stomach.

"Okay, then," he said, rolling out of bed and walking towards the bathroom. He heard Ginny turn in the bed and then a loud wolf-whistle.

"Nice arse, Potter!"

He chuckled as he continued to walk away. Merlin, it was good to have her back in his life!

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry was kept busy over the next week with all kinds of wedding plans. His trip to the Ministry the day after his and Ginny's reconciliation was a success. Kingsley Shacklebolt was more than pleased to hear that he and Ginny were back together and engaged. In fact, he said he was proud to be part of the process of them reuniting and would be honoured to officiate their wedding for them.

The visit with Madeline was just as easygoing. Madeline had not said anything to anyone else about Ginny's visit to his office the previous day. She assured him that she was professional and enjoyed her job too much to risk it by spreading rumours. Harry decided to reward her that afternoon with flowers and chocolates.

He and Ginny spent the weekend at Six Phoenix Path, and quietly enjoyed being back in each other's lives. The following week was quite busy for him and Ginny. They had to find their outfits for the wedding, as well as find flowers and wedding rings. They travelled to various Muggle cities to shop, in the hope that they would not be noticed by anyone from the magical community.

Harry caught up with Ron, Hermione and George through the week while Ginny was busy helping her mum with preparations. Much to Hermione's disappointment, he refused to discuss Ginny with any of them at all. Despite having to hide a huge secret from his best friends, he enjoyed relaxing and talking with them over dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. Ron looked at him strangely when he said that he was taking a months leave, but Hermione's comment of "About time, you need it_"_ helped stop any more curious glances or questions.

While he was eating with Ron, Hermione and George, Charlie appeared at the pub looking a little annoyed. He explained that Miraphina was making him work hard to get her to go and have drinks with him. Charlie suggested that they needed another boy's night out to help him get over his disappointment. At the same time Charlie winked at Harry, who silently moaned knowing that Charlie was going to use this as Harry's stag night. Ron and George thought that this would be a great idea and started writing down lists of whom they would get to join them.

On Friday night, Harry and Ginny separated until their wedding day. Ginny was having a night with the girls that Angelina, George's girlfriend, organised when she discovered the boys were heading out together. She was then planning to stay at the Burrow to finish off all the preparations before the wedding. Harry knew he would miss her during that short time apart.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry Apparated to Hogsmeade and walked towards the Three Broomsticks, where the boys had decided to have their get-together. There was a loud cheer from Charlie as he walked through the door and into the pub. Ron and George soon copied their older brother as Harry wended his way through the tables to where two of the Weasley males were seated.

"Thank Merlin you're here," said Ron. "Charlie has been on my back, worried that you weren't going to show up. What is his problem?"

Harry sat next to his best mate. "No idea. Maybe he's feeling a little frustrated. Mira isn't making it easy for him at the moment. She keeps putting him off."

"Who is Mira? I don't remember her at all," said George from Harry's other side.

"Miraphina is a friend of Ginny's," said Harry, trying not to smile as he said Ginny's name. "They became great friends in her seventh year. She was at the pub the other week when we were all there. Charlie fancies her."

"That would explain why I don't remember her," replied George.

"Does she fancy Charlie?" Ron asked.

"No idea," said Harry. "She's really Ginny's friend so I wouldn't see her, would I?"

"I guess not," replied Ron. "Speaking of Ginny..."

Harry groaned. "Ron..."

"No, come on, Harry. What's going on?"

Harry dropped his head onto the table. He hadn't even had a drink yet, and they were pestering him. He was going to have to be very careful with what he said. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin the surprise. He stood up and Ron looked at him curiously.

"I need a drink," said Harry, and then waved his hand at the empty glasses on the table. "Do you two want another?"

Ron and George nodded, so Harry made his way to the bar where he found Charlie.

"Hey, mate," Charlie said, slapping Harry on his back. "I'm glad you made it. You know this is actually your stag night, don't you?"

Harry glared at Charlie.

"It's okay. No one can hear. I promise I haven't said a word to anyone," Charlie said.

"Good," Harry replied. "You had better help me tonight. If I have too much to drink, there is a great chance of me saying something that I shouldn't."

Charlie gave him a frustrated look.

"What?"

"Well, ideally I should be making sure that you get plastered tonight to mark the end of your bachelorhood," Charlie said with a smirk.

"Ginny will Bat Bogey you if the day is spoiled, you realise?" Harry whispered.

Charlie nodded.

"Right, so it's your job to help me stay in control. Deal?"

"Deal," Charlie replied.

"Good," said Harry. He then realised that Ron and George were heading towards them with Bill and Neville in tow. He needed to change the subject. "What's happening with Miraphina?" he asked Charlie loudly so that his brothers would hear.

"Yes, Charlie, please tell us about this witch whom you are trying to woo," said Bill as the others arrived at the bar.

"Not very successfully, I gather," said George.

"Why would you think that?" Charlie asked.

"Well, you're being a right grumpy git, so I'd imagine that things aren't going well," said Ron.

"Things are fine. She's been busy," replied Charlie.

The group around Charlie laughed at this and Charlie shook his head softly and rolled his eyes.

"Is that what she's telling you to keep you away?" Bill laughed.

"She's coming on Sunday. I'll see her then," Charlie said happily.

"Why is Ginny having a party that we need to dress up for?" asked Ron.

"It is her birthday on Sunday," said Bill.

"And twenty-first birthdays are a big deal," Harry pointed out.

All of the others stared at him.

"What?" Harry asked. "Just because she and I have had a few troubles doesn't mean that I should forget it's her birthday and how old she'll be."

The Weasley boys all shrugged and nodded in agreement and then returned to their discussion. Harry gave Charlie a quick glance and Charlie gave him a brief nod in return. They both needed to be very careful with what they said just now.

"So who's invited?" Ron asked, looking around at the others.

"Hannah and I are," Neville said. "I think Luna is, too."

"Are you going, Harry?" George asked.

"I've been invited," he replied.

"But are you going?" Ron asked.

"I guess so. I'd say there will be a good crowd, so it should be okay," he replied, choosing his words carefully as not to give away anything.

"There will be quite a crowd," Charlie said. "I saw Ginny writing the invitations the other day."

"And Mira will be there, hey, Charlie," Harry said with a wink and taking the attention away from himself, again.

"Mira?" asked Oliver Wood from behind Ron. "Wasn't she that hot number from the other night?"

Charlie growled at Oliver, who held up his hands in defence.

"Right, drinks?" asked Harry loudly, trying to stop the argument that was brewing.

"Yeah, mate!" Ron said. "You were getting those ages ago. What happened?"

Madam Rosmerta appeared in front of them and placed several jugs of ale in front of them which were quickly shared amongst the gathered men. Harry took his glass and quickly retired to the other side of the pub. Ron soon joined him there.

"Are you all right, mate?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded and sipped his drink.

"Are you worried about Sunday?"

He shrugged in reply but realised that he really should say something to his friend. "It'll be fine, Ron."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure you and Hermione will be a big help to me," he said, knowing that he was being a little ambiguous, but he knew that his two best friends would be happy to stand by him and Ginny on Sunday, and that would truly be a help.

Ron nodded and clinked his glass against Harry's. "We'll be there for you."

"Thanks, mate," Harry replied. He raised his glass to Ron. "Cheers!"

"Cheers," Ron replied.

Harry spent the rest of the evening moving around the pub and talking with his friends who had turned up at the Three Broomsticks. He slowly sipped his drinks so that he appeared to be drinking but in reality he drank very little. Every time Ginny's name was brought up in conversation he would try to change the subject or remove himself from that conversation altogether.

He thoroughly enjoyed the evening. He loved being with his friends, but it would have been much easier if he didn't have to worry about saying the wrong thing. He couldn't wait until Sunday so that everyone could see him and Ginny together again and celebrate with them.

In the early hours of the morning he took both George and Ron to their respective homes before returning to the all-too-quiet house at Six Phoenix Path.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Harry spent Saturday morning sleeping and missing Ginny. His home used to be his sanctuary where he felt calm and relaxed. Now he felt agitated because Ginny was not there with him. It was amazing how quickly he had become used to living with Ginny. He could not wait until they were married and could be at home together whenever they liked.

During the afternoon he Apparated to a large local town where he booked a honeymoon for Ginny and himself. He picked a Muggle hotel on an island in the Mediterranean where there would be little chance that either of them would be recognised. He couldn't wait, as they had never had the opportunity to have a lengthy holiday together before. Usually they had only managed weekends away or trips that coincided with one of them working.

He also picked up a few special presents for Ginny for her birthday. All in all, he was looking forward to the next day very, _very_ much.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** A huge thanks to mew-tsubaki for helping me with Mira, and for her usual entertaining beta work.

Also - thanks for all of the kind reviews - they are really appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Ginny rolled over to watch Harry walk away from the bed towards the bathroom. She thoroughly enjoyed watching his naked form as he walked and she had to express how much she liked it by wolf-whistling.

"Nice arse, Potter," she called out.

He chuckled, but at the same time, the back of his neck flushed a little which amused her greatly. Merlin, it was good to be back together, she thought.

She lay in bed long after Harry left, contemplating what had happened the day before. It was wonderful that he had even talked to her. But then he had very calmly forgiven her and then brought her here to see his beautiful home, which no one else had seen. And to top it all off, he had proposed and suggested they get married on her birthday in ten days. Merlin, there was a lot to do over the next ten days, she thought. There was no way they would be able to organise this without her parents' help. And Charlie knowing and being able to help would be good, too.

After Harry left, she slowly got herself ready and Apparated to the Burrow. The first thing to be done was the invitations. When she walked into the kitchen of her family home, she found her mother at the table, surrounded by parchment.

"'Morning, Mum," she said as she gently kissed her mum's cheek. "What are you planning?"

"Good morning, dear," her mum replied. "I'm just organising what food we're going to need for the party. Don't worry; everything will look like it's for a birthday party."

She smiled at her mum in reply. "I'm going to go into Diagon Alley to buy some invitations. Is there anything else we need?" she asked her mum.

"No. You're going to get all the other things another day, I presume," Molly said.

Ginny looked around before answering. "We'll do all those things over the next few days. Harry's gone into the Ministry this morning to get all of that stuff organised."

"That's good, dear," her mum replied.

"I'll come back here to write the invitations, if that's okay?"

"Of course it is. I'd love to help you."

Ginny kissed her mum and walked out of her family home and Apparated to London. She headed straight for Flourish and Blotts in the hope of finding some decent invitations there. As soon as she walked into the shop she heard a loud squeal and her name being yelled.

"Ginny Weasley!" Miraphina yelled. "About time you came to see me."

Ginny watched her friend come towards her. Mira's long dark brown hair was flying behind her she tried to move quickly through the shop. Her pale green eyes and her smile showed the happiness of seeing her friend again. It had been a while since she had last seen her, but Mira had not changed at all. When Mira reached her, Ginny found herself wrapped in a huge hug.

"I'm so glad you're back," Mira said.

"Oh, me, too," she replied.

"I've missed having you around," Mira said, at the same time she led Ginny to a quieter part of the store.

Ginny chuckled. "I thought you preferred a different Weasley's attention these days."

Mira flushed but also smiled cheekily. "Charlie has been visiting me every afternoon, trying to get me to have drinks with him."

"Are you going to?" she asked.

"Eventually," Mira replied. "I have to make him earn it!"

"That's good. He's been pestering me about you for days."

Mira laughed. "Oh he's lovely, Ginny. And he works with dragons. How could I say no to dragons?"

"It's hard to believe that there's someone who likes dragons as much as Charlie," she said. "For a while there we all thought he preferred dragons to witches. Thank Merlin, you've proved us wrong."

"He was so charming-and dare I say, a little cheeky," Mira added with a wink, "when I met him at the pub. Harry was there, too." Mira stated.

Ginny flushed a little under her friend's probing look.

"Charlie said that you and Harry are having problems."

"Mmm," she said. "I said something at Christmas that I shouldn't have. I believe Harry thought that I'd met someone else in Australia."

Mira winced for her friend, paused, and then raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Did you?"

Ginny shook her head. "No. The distance was hard and Harry was busy with work so letters were few and far between. I actually thought he'd met someone. It turns out he hadn't."

"Ah. So have you talked to him? Do you think you'll get back together?" Mira asked.

"Hopefully things will all come together," Ginny replied evasively.

"What aren't you telling me?" Mira asked. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, her finger tapping on her arm as she sceptically stared at Ginny.

"I'm having a party for my birthday on the eleventh. Will you be able to come?" Ginny asked.

Mira smirked at her. "Nice try at changing the subject, Ginny. I know you're hiding something."

Ginny shrugged. "Can you help me with some invitations?"

Mira sighed. "All right. I can see you're not going to tell me anything else. Come and have a look at the stationary."

Ginny followed Mira to the other side of the store.

"What kind would you like? There are floral, animal, funny, patterned, plain, kids, drinking…"

"Um…I think I'll go for something like this," Ginny replied, reaching for one of the ones that was relatively plain except for an intricate border around the edge.

"Nice choice," replied Mira. "Are you having a big party?"

"Yeah, it will be. I've decided to do something a bit different- well different for me anyway."

"Really?"

"Uh huh, I thought I might have a formal type of party, so I can find a nice pretty dress to wear."

"Wow, that is different for you," Mira said, looking at her intently. "Are you trying to impress Harry?"

She smiled at her friend who, even after all these years, could still so easily read her. "Well, that's one of the reasons. Will you be able to come?"

"Charlie will be there, I imagine," her friend said.

"Of course," Ginny replied with a smile.

"I'll be there, and not just to see Charlie," Mira replied with a playful wink. "Still, I'd be there, even if he wasn't. I'm glad you're back, Ginny. I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Mira," Ginny replied.

The two friends hugged before heading towards the counter. Once Ginny had paid for the invitations, a new quill and coloured ink, she headed back to the Burrow.

Ginny spent the rest of the day with her mother, writing invitations, talking about food for the party and eventually gathering the invitations together to be taken to the owl office to be sent, as there were far too many to be sent by the family owl.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

Ginny thoroughly enjoyed the quiet weekend at home with Harry. It was tremendously exciting to be able to call Harry's house her home. When she had called Six Phoenix Path Harry's house, Harry had told her quite determinedly that it was their home, not his.

They spent the weekend catching up on each other's activities over the past seven months. Harry told her as much as he was allowed to about his missions, of which there had been an awful lot. He also told her that he was thankfully going to be able to cut down on missions a lot now that he was head of the department.

Ginny told him about the end of the season in Australia and about a few places she had visited when she had a chance to do touristy things.

They also discussed her contract with the Harpies and he helped her write down a few things that should be changed on the new contract before she signed it.

The most amazing conversation that they had was about children. She knew that Harry wanted to eventually have a family and she had seen him with Teddy and knew that he would be a fantastic father. He said that it would ultimately be up to her when they wanted to start having children, as he knew she wanted more time playing Quidditch before having children. The thought of carrying Harry's child made her heart beat faster and her eyes mist up. Hopefully at least one of their children would end up with Harry's beautiful green eyes.

After the weekend together, they had many jobs to do to get themselves ready for her birthday. On Monday, they Apparated to some Muggle cities where they could shop without being noticed, though Ginny did hide her mane of red hair under a hat and Harry kept a Muggle cap pulled down over his scar to help them stay hidden.

Ginny found a lovely dress in a Muggle boutique that would be perfect to wear as a wedding dress. She also found some fabulous high-heeled sandals to wear as well. The only regret was that she could not find the perfect jewellery to accent the dress.

The following day was spent looking for wedding rings in out-of-the-way jewellery stores, and then ordering flowers which Harry would collect on the day of their wedding and bring with him, so that the Burrow would not look set up for a wedding when the guests arrived.

She spent Wednesday at the Burrow with her mum going through the list of preparations. They started doing some of the baking that could be done in advance, to avoid a rush and a mountain of work on the coming weekend. Hermione arrived late in the afternoon after seeing Harry at lunchtime. She was very curious to see how Ginny's plan of wooing Harry back was going.

"Have you talked to Harry?" Hermione asked, as they sat down in the garden with bottles of butterbeer.

"Um, I tried…on his birthday..." she said slowly.

"Ron and I didn't get to see him on his birthday," Hermione said. "He was planning on having lunch with us, but he never turned up and then didn't answer the owl we sent to the ministry."

"I went into the ministry that morning and gave him his present. He wasn't particularly pleased to see me. Maybe he was too upset for lunch." Ginny hated lying to Hermione. She always thought that her friend was going to see through her story, but this was a necessity to keep their plans a secret.

"Maybe," Hermione said. "Did he say anything?"

"Not really..."

"Don't give up, Ginny," Hermione told her. "He'll come around, eventually. You know how stubborn he can be."

"That's true," Ginny replied. "Hey, I haven't told you about the contract the Harpies have offered me."

Ginny kept Hermione distracted from the topic of her and Harry by talking about her contract and then Hermione and Ron's upcoming wedding. The wedding kept Hermione talking for a long time and it wasn't too long before Ginny was wishing that she had not brought the subject up because it was stopping her from getting home to Harry.

On Thursday, Ginny stopped by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to visit Ron and George so that that the illusion of her and Harry not being together could be maintained. As soon as she walked into the shop she was ambushed by Angelina, George's girlfriend, and told that she would be spending Friday evening with the girls as the boys had decided to have another night out together. Ginny happily agreed to going, as she knew that Harry would be with the boys, as long as she could invite a few other girls to join them. Angelina agreed to this with a comment of "the more, the merrier," so instead of staying at her brothers' shop she went to see Mira to invite her along and then owled Luna and Callie, her closest friend from the Harpies.

**Xx-H&G-xX**

"Have you got what you need?" Harry asked her late on Friday afternoon. She was just about to head over to the Burrow where she would stay until her birthday.

"I do," she replied.

Harry pulled her into his arms and kissed her slowly. His hands were running up and down her arms and back as they kissed.

"Mmm. It would be so easy to stay at home with you tonight and forget the others," she said a while later as they pulled apart.

"I know, Gin," he said as he kissed her forehead. "Charlie would hex me if I didn't show up. Plus it would be fairly obvious if neither of us turned up at our respective nights out."

"Hmm, that's true," she replied. "Just one more kiss, then."

He laughed and pulled her back against him.

A little while later, she Apparated to the Burrow and put her bag away before heading into Diagon Alley, where she was meeting up with all the other girls. Just as she walked into the Leaky Cauldron, a huge cheer was heard from the back corner. She turned towards the sound and saw Angelina, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet waving at her to join them. She quickly weaved her way through the tables and arrived at a large table with an even larger group of witches gathered around it.

"_Finally_," Mira drawled from the back corner where she was sitting next to Ginny's Harpy friend, Callie.

"Sorry," she replied. "Am I the last one to arrive?"

"We're just waiting on Hermione," Angelina replied.

Just at that moment, Hermione appeared at Ginny's shoulder.

"Excellent, we're all here," said Angelina, as she dashed off towards the bar.

"Where's she off to?" asked Hermione.

"Getting drinks, I would imagine," replied Ginny as she squeezed her away around to sit near Mira and Callie, with Hermione following her.

Very soon Angelina returned carrying a tray with jugs of colourful drinks. Behind her was Hannah Abbott carrying stacks of glasses.

"All right, girls, let's get started," Angelina yelled.

The girls around the table cheered and then started passing glasses and the jugs of drink around.

"What do you want, Ginny?" Luna asked her from nearby.

Ginny jumped as she hadn't really noticed Luna sitting on the other side of Callie. She squealed and leaned over her two friends to give her quirky friend a hug.

"Luna, it's great to see you," she said. "I'm sorry that I haven't seen you since I got back, I've…"

"It's fine, really," Luna replied, holding up her hand. "I can tell you've had lots on your mind. Don't worry; Harry is still there for you."

Ginny dropped her head onto the table. She didn't want to start discussing Harry.

"Well, _that_ didn't take long," said Hermione.

"What didn't?" asked Hannah from the other side of the table.

"Who mentioned Harry?" asked Angelina.

"Luna," Mira answered.

"What's wrong with mentioning Harry?" asked Alicia.

"Ginny and Harry are having problems," replied Hermione.

"What happened?" asked Callie and Katie at the same time.

Ginny shook her head on the table. She really didn't want this conversation to be happening.

"Did they break up?" asked Alicia curiously.

"Sort of, I think," Angelina said. "Actually, I don't really know."

"Did the distance get to be too much?" asked Callie. "It was pretty unfair that they sent you alone to the other side of the world for so long."

Mira and Hermione nodded in agreement. Ginny lifted her head slightly so that she could see the interested faces around her. She then groaned and dropped her head back down when she realised that the others weren't going to let this be. Though, it would be better now than later after a few drinks when she could accidentally let something slip, she thought.

"I told him he could see other girls," Ginny said eventually.

"WHAT?" yelled everyone else, except Hermione who patted her on the back.

"Why would you do something silly like that?" Mira asked.

Ginny groaned again and then sat up. "Now that I look back, I have no idea. At the time I thought it was for best."

Angelina gave her a sharp look. "Did you..."

"No, I didn't meet someone over there," she said, cutting Angelina's question off. "It was a silly decision that I now regret, okay?"

"Don't worry, Ginny, things will work out," Luna said.

"Thanks, Luna," she replied before changing the topic. "You lot are all coming on Sunday, aren't you?"

The group of girls chorused their agreement.

"It'll be nice to dress up for a party for once," said Katie.

"That's not what Ron said," Hermione stated. "He complained."

"So did George," Angelina said. "Those boys just want to lounge around in their jeans. It'll be nice to see them dressed up for a change."

The girls started discussing what they would be wearing to the party on Sunday, and Ginny sighed with relief that the topic of conversation had changed.

Hermione leaned over closer to her and asked quietly, "Did Harry reply to the invitation?"

Ginny nodded in response and then spoke quietly, "I made sure that there would be a big crowd so that he would feel comfortable."

"I'm glad he's coming," Hermione said. "Hopefully you'll get a chance to talk properly to him."

Ginny smiled in response. She couldn't say any more in case her enthusiasm and delight over her birthday plans would be revealed. She turned to Mira. "Has my brother convinced you into going for drinks yet?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Mira. Ginny was pleased that she was out of the limelight for a while.

Mira gave a cheeky smile. "Oh, I'll go out with Charlie, but I didn't want to make it too easy for him."

"Good girl," cheered Alicia from her side of the table. "We have to make these boys work hard for what they want."

"Not too hard, though," said Katie. "Or they'll find someone else."

"Aww, Katie, you're not pining after Oliver again, are you?" said Angelina.

Katie blushed. "I can't help it."

Ginny reached over and gave Katie's arm a squeeze. She remembered that feeling. Katie gave her a warm smile in return.

"How are the wedding plans going, Hermione?" asked Hannah.

"There's so much to do," replied Hermione. "I don't think there are enough hours left to get it all organised."

"You'll get there," said Mira. "It'll be like exams at school. All that worry and then everything will work out just fine."

"There can't be that much left to do," Ginny said.

"You just wait 'til you have to organise your wedding," said Hermione sharply.

Ginny smirked. Sure, she and Harry had been busy this week but it was manageable. Hermione always made mountains out of molehills.

"I'm sure she really doesn't want to hear that just now, Hermione," said Mira.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking a little confused.

"Think about what you just said and current circumstances," Callie said.

Hermione sat still for a moment and then covered her mouth with both hands before hugging Ginny. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ginny. I didn't think."

"It's okay," Ginny replied. "Ron must be rubbing off on you."

The gathered girls laughed at this and then started discussing the men in their lives or the lack of them. Ginny helped herself to one of the bluey green drinks and sat back to listen to the girls around her. The drink was delicious and she quickly decided to be very careful with how many of them she drank otherwise she could spill her secret very easily.

A little later a platter of food was brought out to share along with more drinks. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia were thoroughly enjoying the drinks and teased Ginny about not joining in with them. Ginny told them she had to help her mum get ready for the party the next day so she couldn't drink too much otherwise the party would have no food. After she promised to have a few drinks with them on Sunday, they thankfully stopped. Ginny enjoyed hanging out with girls, but she couldn't stop herself thinking about Harry as well. It would be great when they could be together in company. And that time was not too far away.

Ginny eventually left the girls around midnight and Apparated safely back to the Burrow. She found it strange sleeping by herself and being in her old bedroom, but she reminded herself that in two days time she and Harry could be together forever.

On Saturday, Ginny spent the day helping her mum in the kitchen. By the end of the day there were cakes and pies on various surfaces as well as many containers holding different meals. The biggest problem they encountered was trying to keep Charlie and her dad away from the food. Ginny thought that in the future she would look back on this day as one of the most pleasant days she had ever spent with her mum. She was broken free of this thought by her mum speaking.

"We're done. I'll finish icing the cake in the morning."

"Thanks, Mum," she said, giving her a huge hug.

"That's perfectly fine, dear. I'm quite thankful to be given the chance. You two could have gone off and done this without us and I would have missed out," Molly said.

"Do you think we're rushing this?" Ginny asked her mum abruptly.

"Do you think you are?" her mum retorted.

"No, not really. We've been together for years. We don't count the last six or so months. We would have been apart for that anyway. We just want to move on and have things like they should have always been."

"So why are you worried?"

"I'm just wondering how the others will react."

"Is that going to change your mind?"

"No way," Ginny replied with a huge smile. "Nothing will stop me marrying Harry. You know, he was going to propose at Christmas, when I stuffed things up."

"I had an idea that he was thinking about it," her mother replied.

"I wish I hadn't said those things," Ginny stated. "Then things would have been different."

"No, they wouldn't, not really," Molly Weasley said to her daughter with a loving smile. "You're getting married and you couldn't have done that any earlier with you being away. The only thing that would have been avoided is the awkwardness, and that's all sorted out now."

"Thanks, Mum," Ginny said.

"It's fine, my dear. Now I want you to take yourself upstairs and relax in the bath and then make sure everything is ready for tomorrow."

Ginny leaned over to her mum and gave her a kiss and another hug before heading upstairs to spend her last night as a Weasley at the Burrow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** A big thanks to mew-tsubaki for her help with this, as always!

And thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed and enjoyed this. The lovely reviews really do keep me writing.

So here it is - Ginny's birthday. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Harry arrived at the Burrow just before eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. There were already a few people gathered in the garden that he waved to as he made his way to the house to see Molly and Arthur. He knew that he would not be able to see Ginny just yet, but he needed to pass on a birthday gift that she would be able to wear.

Molly and Arthur were in the kitchen making finishing touches to the food that would be served a little later. Harry walked up to Molly and gave her a huge hug, which she returned enthusiastically, kissing him on his cheek, as well. He then shook hands with Arthur.

"Is everything all set?" he asked after looking around to check that no one else was around.

Molly nodded.

"Everything is all ready," Arthur said. "Once everyone is here, she'll come down and the four of us can make the announcement as planned."

"Excellent," Harry said. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Molly. "Could you pass this on to her for me?"

Molly smiled and took the package from him and carefully put it in her pocket. "I'll give it to her when I go up. She's getting dressed just now."

"Thank you for all of this," Harry said. "Thanks for getting all of this done so quickly and quietly."

"It's fine, Harry. Honestly," said Arthur.

"It's a pleasure to do this for you," Molly said. "I've been looking forward to doing this for years, and after Christmas I was a little worried that it wouldn't happen at all. We're so glad that you've worked things out."

"You don't think we're rushing things?" Harry asked. He didn't believe that they were rushing their marriage, but now that the day had arrived, he was a little concerned that he and Ginny would be scorned by some people, seeing that just over a week ago they were hardly talking.

"Do you think you're rushing things?" Arthur asked.

"No," he said bluntly.

"Why does it matter what we or others think?" asked Molly.

"It doesn't to us," he said. "I just don't want other people's comments spoiling the day."

"Harry, Molly and I are very happy about this. We know that you are just right for each other and it hasn't been easy for either of you over the past two years. You both deserve this," Arthur said emotionally.

"That's right, Harry. It's time that you were happily together," Molly said.

Harry could feel himself getting very emotional. He pulled his parents, as he had thought of them for a while, into another hug.

A little later, Molly wiped tears away from her cheeks and shooed Harry out of the kitchen.

Out in the garden Harry made his way to where the ceremony was to take place. As he walked he checked, probably for the hundredth time, that the rings were safely in his pocket. He found Kingsley already standing there, ready for his duties. He shook his boss' hand when he reached him.

"All ready?" Kingsley asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Who knows what's happening here today?"

"You, Molly, Arthur, Charlie, and of course me and Ginny," Harry said, once again looking around, checking that no one else was in hearing distance.

"You were able to keep this from Ron and Hermione?" his boss asked, sounding a little awed.

"We did!" he said with a smile. "It wasn't easy. They kept asking me about her, but we managed."

"Well done," the Minister said. "Did you appoint Jackson as your replacement while you're on leave?"

Harry looked at Kingsley in confusion until he realised that Ron, Hermione, George, and Angelina were just behind him. He mouthed his thanks before turning to his friends.

"Well, Harry, you certainly took the dressing up part to the extreme," George said looking Harry up and down.

"I'm not that dressed up," he replied.

"What's this, then?" George asked, flicking his tie up into his face.

"It's a tie," Harry said somewhat sarcastically.

"Leave him alone, George," said Angelina. "You just don't like that he looks better than you."

Harry and Ron laughed at Angelina's comment. George looked at his girlfriend in frustration. Hermione appeared to be trying not to laugh.

"You look very nice, Harry," said Hermione.

"We all do," he replied.

"What was Ginny thinking, asking us to dress up for her birthday?" Ron asked.

George shrugged. "No idea. She's never been into dressing up before."

"It's her birthday," Hermione said. "If it's what she wants then leave her be."

Charlie then appeared in their midst with a camera in his hands. He started taking photos of them, until Ron placed his hand in front of the camera.

"Hey!" exclaimed Charlie.

"What's with the camera?" Ron asked.

"Ginny's orders," Charlie said. "She wants lots of photos of today."

"Why?" asked George. "She's never been overly fussed about it before."

"No idea," Charlie said. "Just doing as I'm told."

"Hey, Charlie!" Harry exclaimed. "Is Mira here yet?"

Charlie looked around hopefully. "I haven't seen her, but she's definitely coming. She shouldn't be too far away."

"Don't worry, Charlie. Hermione and I met her on Friday night. She'll be here and she's looking forward to seeing you, too," said Angelina.

"Really?" Charlie asked with a huge smile.

"Yes, really," said Hermione. "And I do believe she's just walked through the gate."

Charlie spun to face the gate and quickly walked towards the object of his affections, leaving the others staring after him.

"Where is the birthday girl?" asked Angelina, looking around.

"Haven't seen her," said Ron.

"Me neither," Harry said.

"Maybe she's going to make a big entrance," said George. "She's really gone all out for this. Look at all the people. Gwenog Jones is over there with some other Harpies. Most of the D.A. is here. Plus the Minister of Magic…"

"Well, he is a friend of the family," stated Hermione.

Just then, loud catcalls and wolf-whistles were heard and heads were turning towards the kitchen door of the Burrow. Harry felt his heart thumping, knowing that it was time.

Arthur and Molly moved to stand on either side of their daughter and the crowd quietened.

Harry got his first look at his bride and his jaw dropped. She looked amazing. Her simple, white dress was held up with shoestring straps and flowed down her body. Her beautiful crimson hair was artistically piled on her head with curls falling here and there from the arrangement. The jewellery he had given her via Molly looked perfect with her outfit and he could just notice his ring on her finger.

"Whoa. She really dressed up," George said.

"Yeah. I think she might be trying to get your attention, mate," Ron said to Harry.

"By the look on Harry's face, I'd say she's succeeded," said Angelina.

Harry saw his four friends turn to look at him intently. He smiled at them happily. "She managed that a long time ago."

"We know that," Hermione said. "I think Ron means that Ginny's pulling out all stops to win you back."

"Oh, I know what Ron meant," Harry said. "She's already managed that, too."

"WHAT?" his four friends asked simultaneously.

Harry winked at them and then reached for his suit coat and a box that he had hidden away when he had arrived. He slid his arms into the sleeves of his coat and pulled it on and then slowly started walking towards Ginny and her parents with the box in his hands. He could feel his friends' intensive looks, but he refused to turn their way until he was next to his bride.

Arthur Weasley started talking to the gathered group as Harry was walking slowly towards them. "Thank you all for coming to help Ginny celebrate her twenty-first birthday. We've actually got a bit of a surprise for you today…"

Harry heard a gasp from quite a few in the gathered crowd.

Ginny gave a small nervous cough before speaking. "I know I invited you to a birthday party, but we're actually gathered here today to celebrate something else."

This time the gasp was from most of the audience. Harry could also hear a few curious mutterings from those who were near him. By this stage he had reached Ginny and her parents. He turned to face everyone. He could see Ron and Hermione looking at him totally shocked.

"As most of you know, Ginny and I had a minor hitch in our relationship recently," he said to the crowd. There were a few nods and chuckles from people around him.

"What nearly all of you don't know is that last Wednesday, on my birthday, Ginny and I worked things out…"

Harry could hear Ron, George, and Angelina cheering. He turned to Ginny and saw her smiling at their family and friend's reactions. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, enjoying the heady scent of her.

"Yes, I was ever so grateful that Harry actually talked to me and forgave me. What I didn't expect at all was Harry asking me to marry him."

Harry gave a little chuckle at the silence coming from their audience. Not long later the sound of clapping and cheering took over.

"Oh, zat eez so romantic," said Fleur, from her spot where she was hugging her small daughter, Victoire. "Zis eez an engagement party, then."

"Not quite," said Arthur.

"What?" asked Bill.

"Erm, yes," said Harry, a little nervously. "We'd actually like all of you to help us celebrate our wedding day."

"You're getting married today?" Hermione asked, totally shocked.

Ginny leaned into him so she was totally snuggled up against him and he pressed a small kiss to her temple. They both started laughing at Hermione's total surprise. The sneaking around for the last eleven days was worth it to see the surprise and happiness on everyone's faces, he thought.

"Yes, we're getting married today," Ginny said. "So Hermione, Mira, Luna, could I get you three up here to be my bridesmaids, please?"

"Yeah, Ron, George, Neville, could you three do the honours for me?" Harry asked.

There was a sudden flurry of movement. Harry and Ginny were soon surrounded by nearly all of their guests. They had hands slapping them on their backs, arms coming around them giving them hugs, and kisses being pressed on their cheeks.

"All right, you lot!" yelled Molly, sounding more like her daughter than herself. "Leave them be. Let's get this started."

Harry gently kissed Ginny and then opened the box. He handed her a bunch of calla lilies and then passed Ginny's three bridesmaids bunches of bright multi-coloured gerberas. Next, he pulled out four red camellias and handed one to each of his groomsmen and placed the other in the lapel of his suit coat. Finally, he handed Molly and Arthur a pink camellia each.

Then, Harry and his groomsmen walked back down to where Kingsley was standing. Ginny stayed at the door, ready to walk down the makeshift aisle.

Kingsley Charmed his voice to be louder before speaking. "Witches and wizards, could you please gather around either side of me in readiness," he said.

Once everyone was gathered around, Harry turned to face his bride. Molly had moved to be at the front of the audience. Luna walked down towards him, followed by Mira and then Hermione, before Ginny started slowly walking towards him, arm-in-arm with her dad.

Ron slapped him on the shoulder, momentarily taking his attention away from Ginny.

"All right there, mate?" Ron asked.

"Never better," he replied.

"Good to hear," Ron said.

Harry turned back to watch Ginny and Arthur walk towards him. Ginny looked radiant, her smile wide and her eyes bright. It suddenly hit him that he was marrying this gorgeous girl today. He knew his parents would have loved his choice for a wife and would be lovingly looking down on them today along with Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Fred. He wiped a lone tear from his cheek as Arthur and Ginny stopped beside him.

"Look after her," Arthur said as they shook hands.

"I will," Harry replied.

Arthur gave Ginny a kiss before joining Molly at the front of the crowd.

Harry gently took Ginny's hand and they both turned towards Kingsley.

"Welcome everyone," Kingsley said in his melodious voice, before looking towards Harry and Ginny. "Harry and Ginny. You are here today to bond together as husband and wife. This is a serious promise you are about to make to each other..."

Harry looked down at Ginny standing next to him. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and those chocolate-brown orbs stared back up at him. Kingsley's words almost faded into the background as he stared at the gorgeous woman beside him. It was only Ron's discrete cough that brought his attention back to the service.

"Will you, Harry James Potter, take Ginny as your wife? Will you love her and honour her for the rest of your life?" Kingsley said.

"I will," Harry replied, smiling down at Ginny.

Kingsley then turned to Ginny. "Will you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, take Harry as your husband? Will you love him and honour him for the rest of your life?"

"I will," Ginny said.

Harry watched a couple of tears slide down her cheek. He reached up and gently rubbed them away.

Kingsley then continued the service with the exchange of rings and he then announced them as husband and wife to the crowd.

Harry pulled Ginny towards him and gently kissed her. Just as he was pulling away he felt Ginny's hands pull his shoulders back towards her and she deepened the kiss. It was only the cheers from their family and friends that stopped the kiss from becoming more passionate. Eventually Ginny let him pull away from her, and he looked around at the gathered crowd.

Molly had tears running down her cheeks, as did Andromeda Tonks, Minevra McGonagall, and Hagrid. Arthur was shaking hands with Kingsley, with Percy right behind him. Nearly everyone else was gathering around him and Ginny, ready to hug, kiss, and congratulate them.

Once the crowd around them had subsided, Charlie came and shook his hand and then pulled him into a hug. "Well done, mate. You managed to pull it off as planned."

"Thanks, Charlie, for your help, especially taking photos today."

"Charlie knew?" Mira asked.

"He happened to walk in when we were telling Mum and Dad," Ginny told everyone around them. "So we put him to use."

"You'd better tell us how it all happened," Angelina demanded.

"We will, once we've got a drink and something to eat," said Harry.

Very quickly, Arthur, Molly and a few helpers brought out the food and drinks to the tables that were standing off to the side of where everyone had gathered. Harry and Ginny served themselves first and found themselves sitting close together at the head of a long table. They were soon joined by their close friends and family who were ready to hear about how they had reunited without anyone finding out.

Harry really wanted to enjoy being next to Ginny, but he knew that they would both be pestered for information by nearly everyone who was there. He decided he'd have to do something he really didn't enjoy that much and that was to address a crowd. He reached for two glasses of champagne and handed one to Ginny before standing.

"All right, you lot," he said, getting everyone's attention. Once the crowd was silent he continued. "I know you all want to know how this all happened and we'll be able to do that fully at a later date. But I thought we'd give you a few small details just now to keep you up-to-date."

There were a few cheers from the crowd at this.

"Before I do that," he said. "I would like to thank a few people starting with Arthur and Molly." He turned to face his new parents-in-law. "Thank you for taking me in and looking after me when you hardly knew me. Being a part of this family has meant everything to me since then. Thanks for helping us make today happen." He raised his glass to them.

"To all of our friends and family, thanks for coming and helping us celebrate. It's been wonderful sharing this with you all." Harry paused for a moment and took a deep breath. This was going to be an emotional one. "To my mum and dad: I know you're looking down on us today along with some other friends and family that we wish could be with us. Thank you…" He couldn't say any more. His voice wouldn't work. Ginny reached up and caressed his cheek. He turned his head and kissed her palm. When he looked around he could see a few others were looking a little emotional.

"Finally, to my beautiful wife, Ginny. Thank you for being persistent with me since you came home. It certainly helped us get to this point," he said with a chuckle. "You make me whole. I love you and I'm so unbelievably happy that you're willing to spend your life with me."

There were a few sighs in the crowd after this. He looked down at his wife to see her looking up at him with tears almost pouring down her cheeks. He brushed them away with his thumb and leaned down and kissed the remnants of the tears away. Ginny stood once she had calmed herself a little and everyone gave her a cheer.

"I just want to quickly thank Mum, Dad, and Charlie for helping us this week and keeping this a secret for us, too," she said. "Thank you everyone for dressing up and coming to help me celebrate my birthday and our wedding." Ginny turned to look at Harry. "Harry, thank you for giving _us_ another chance. I love you so much and I'm so excited that we can now spend the rest of our lives together."

As the crowd cheered, Ginny leaned over and kissed him hard. Ron's groan a few moments later brought him back to their surroundings and he pulled away.

"Come on, we want the details," Angelina called out.

Harry smirked at the crowd before speaking again. "Well as you probably know or realised, things weren't all that great between us when Ginny came home from Australia…"

"And we're not going into details about that," Ginny said. "After a little chat with Hermione, I realised that I had to be fairly forward about winning him back."

"So she showered me with gifts daily to remind me that she was back and what I was missing," Harry continued.

"Like what?" asked Mira.

Harry looked at Ginny with a cheeky smile and raised his eyebrow at her. She glared at him and shook her head. He chuckled before answering. "Oh, just little things like treacle tart, chocolates and Quidditch tickets."

"On his birthday, I went into his office to give him his birthday present, and he was actually down in the training rooms. So I went down there and admired him through the window until he came out and almost knocked me over. He eventually agreed to talk to me so we talked things through and he took me to see where he lives…"

"You've been there?" Hermione asked. "Where is…"

"Later, Hermione," Harry said.

"And after showing me around his house, we went out into the garden and he told me he still loved me and then proposed to me."

"Ginny eventually said yes," he said with a laugh until Ginny swatted him. "Then we came and talked to Arthur and Molly…"

"I interrupted them," Charlie added.

"And we started organising this," Ginny concluded.

"Oh, zat eez so romantic," repeated Fleur. She quickly handed little Victoire to the man behind her, who she must have thought was Bill, and wrapped her arms around both Harry and Ginny. Meanwhile, Neville was looking down at the little girl in arms with a mixture of fear and wonder on his face - this _was_ Fleur Delacour's daughter, after all.

Harry and Ginny removed themselves from Fleur's embrace and then started to wander around the party, talking to their guests. Every so often they would gravitate back towards each other, share hugs and kisses, and then go back to socialising with their guests.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Thanks to mew-tsubaki for her wonderful beta work and other help. Thanks to all the readers out there, too!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Ginny wandered through the crowd at the Burrow. She could see Harry talking with Ron and George over near the food. Ron had another plate filled with food in his hand. Harry and George were holding glasses of what looked like Firewhiskey. She headed towards her husband, with the heart-warming thought that she was able to call him that; Harry was her husband. Merlin, what a wonderful feeling. Once she had made her way to be right behind him, she wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed her body against him.

"Mmmm," Harry said without turning around. "That's nice, though you'd better stop. My wife is around here somewhere."

She kissed the back of his neck and she could hear him make a purring noise as she slowly kissed around his neck until she reached his pulse-point. He pulled her into his arms and nuzzled against her neck before moving his lips up to hers.

"As much as I'm happy that you two are back together, I really don't need to see that," said Ron between mouthfuls.

Ginny kept kissing Harry until Ron threw a bread roll at them. She turned around and poked her tongue out at her brother. Harry started laughing and pulled her against him.

"What have you been up to, Mrs. Potter?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

"I've been talking to Luna. She brought a new _friend_," she said, emphasising the last word.

"Really?" Harry said.

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Rolf," she replied.

"Rolf?" Ron and George said together, looking a little confused.

"Yeah, Rolf Scamander," Ginny said. "He's related to Newt Scamander somehow."

"Where have I heard that name before?" asked Ron.

"He wrote _Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them_," Harry answered.

"Ah, that sounds like someone who would suit Luna, then," said Ron.

"He's lovely," she said. "And he seems to really like Luna."

"That's good then," Harry said. He then looked over her shoulder with a concerned look. "Ah, Ginny, I believe you are about to be hijacked by Hermione."

She turned around to see Hermione walking very determinedly towards her, looking for answers. She turned back around to find that Harry, Ron, and George had disappeared. "Prats," she said, before turning to face her great friend whom she had been avoiding just a little since the ceremony was over.

"Ginevra Weasley…"

"Potter, thank you very much," she replied quickly.

"Sorry! Ginny, how in Godric's name did you and Harry manage to keep this from everyone?" Hermione asked, looking a little angry. "I can usually read you both so well and I know when you're hiding something, but I didn't have a clue when I saw either of you this last week or so."

Ginny gave her a smile. "We just really wanted today to be a surprise and we wanted some time together without interruptions, too."

"We would have left you alone…"

"You think so?" Ginny asked. "You think that my prats of brothers would have left us alone?"

Hermione stared at her for a moment and then eventually shook her head.

"You should be glad that your plan worked," Ginny said.

"Which plan?" Hermione asked.

"The plan to woo Harry. It definitely helped my cause," she said with a grin.

Hermione gave her a friendly smile at last and pulled her over to a couple of spare chairs. "That's good, Ginny. What eventually won him over?"

Ginny gave a nervous laugh. "Erm…some flowers and a photograph."

Hermione looked a little startled. "Well, that's interesting. I thought it would have been something different. What was the photo of?"

"Me," she answered.

"Please tell me it wasn't a naked…"

"Hermione!" she exclaimed.

Her friend gave her a curious look.

"I had clothes on…well some," she stated. "It was of something…something I really don't want revealed here today."

"What would be so bad?" Hermione asked curiously.

Ginny leaned over and whispered in her friend's ear.

"Really?" Hermione asked, looking shocked. "Can you show me?"

"Later, not here," she said.

"So Harry likes it, then?" her friend asked.

She smirked. "Harry _loves_ it."

"You can spare me the details, thanks," Hermione said with a small groan.

The two friends sat quietly for a while before Hermione spoke again.

"How did you plan a wedding so quickly? I feel so snowed under with preparations that I don't think I'll ever get it organised. Yet you managed all this in a week."

"Ten days, actually."

"Whatever. This has been so beautiful today. I hope that my day is just as beautiful," Hermione said.

"Just relax. It will be. It will come together, I promise," she said.

"You think so?"

"I do," she replied. "If Harry and I can organise this in ten days, you can get yours done. You're the most organised person I know, Hermione."

Hermione nodded.

"Maybe you're trying to organise it too much," Ginny suggested. "Take a week off from your preparations and then have another look."

"But..."

"Do it," Ginny said firmly.

"Okay, then," Hermione said a little reluctantly.

"Good. And now I should go and spend some time with some of the other guests."

"Or go and snog Harry."

"That, too," she replied with a cheeky smile. She gave Hermione a hug before starting to move away.

"Hey, Ginny!" Hermione called out.

She turned around to look at her friend.

"Happy birthday!"

"Thanks."

Ginny wandered through the multitude of guests that had been invited, stopping every so often to talk to some of them. She spied Harry sitting, talking to Andromeda Tonks. Teddy was perched on his lap with his hair a conservative black to match his godfather's. She smiled and thought about him sitting with their child on his lap in a few years time.

"Getting clucky, already?" Bill asked, rousing her from her thoughts.

Ginny laughed at her brother and then shook her head. "No, that can wait for a few years. Though Harry does look good with Teddy on his lap."

"I bet you it will be less than a few years," Bill said.

"I want a few more years of Quidditch yet," she replied.

Bill looked at her curiously. "What about Harry? He looks like he'd happily start a family now."

"He's happy to wait until I'm ready, Bill. We've already talked about it. Anyway, Teddy can visit us whenever Harry likes. Harry loves spending time with him," she said.

"That's good," her brother replied before grabbing her in a hug. "Congratulations, little sister. I wish you two all the happiness in the world. You both deserve it."

"Thanks, Bill," she said, feeling very happy at her brother's heartfelt words. "Where's Fleur?"

Bill laughed. "She's trying to get Victoire away from Neville. She seems totally attached to him and won't let him go."

Ginny laughed. "Really? That would be a funny sight."

"Oh, it is, though Neville's girlfriend doesn't look too happy about it," Bill said.

"Why? It's not like Victoire is likely to steal him away from her," Ginny said.

Bill shrugged. "No idea. I better let you go and socialise. Happy birthday, by the way."

Ginny leaned over and kissed her eldest brother on the cheek. She then started walking towards Harry but was stopped by Percy, who had a strange girl next to him.

"Hello, Ginny," he said. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Percy," she said, looking curiously at the woman standing beside her brother.

"This is Audrey," Percy said. "My fiancée."

"Oh, I didn't realise you were engaged. Mum never told me," she said, a little shocked.

"You're actually the first to know. We were going to say something today. I didn't realise this was going to be such a big occasion," he said, sounding very disappointed.

"That was the idea, Percy. We wanted it to stay a secret," she said. "Oh, congratulations, by the way. It's lovely to meet you, Audrey," she continued.

Audrey moved towards her and gave her a hug and a kiss. "Congratulations to you, as well. It's been a lovely day. The ceremony was beautiful and it's such a relaxed party."

"Why, thank you," she replied, smiling. She liked Audrey from what she could tell so far. Maybe she would help to relax Percy a little. "It's been wonderful. I'm so happy that Harry and I are married now."

"Don't you think it's been a bit quick?" Percy asked. "Two weeks ago you weren't even talking, and now you're married…"

"Percy!" Audrey said. "That is not for you to worry about. I'm sure Ginny knows what she is doing."

"Thanks, Audrey," Ginny said. "I think you are going to be wonderful for my brother."

Audrey laughed. "He is a dear and I love him, but he can be a little…uptight, sometimes."

Percy's face turned a lovely shade of crimson and Ginny smirked.

"We'd better let you mingle," said Percy, a little tensely. "We need to go and see Mum and Dad, anyway."

"I'm sure they'll be over the moon," Ginny said in reply.

As soon as they had disappeared, Harry's arms snaked their way around her waist and he kissed her just below the ear.

"How was Percy?" he asked.

She turned in his arms and stared up into his green eyes. "Not too bad, actually. Have you met Audrey before?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so."

"They're engaged. I think we spoiled their big announcement," she said.

"Really? Percy's engaged. I thought he was married to the Ministry," he replied.

"Apparently not," she said. "Audrey's quite nice. She stopped Percy from having a go at me."

"Why did he have a go at you?"

"It wasn't much. He thought all of this was a bit fast," she said with a grimace. "Typical Percy, really."

"And Audrey stopped him?" Harry asked, a little amazed.

"Yes, and then I told her she'd be great for him."

"Nice," he said before leaning down and kissing her. "How about we find somewhere quiet for a little while?" he asked a little suggestively.

"You want to disappear for a …"

"…snog," Harry said quickly. "Yes, I'd like to take you off for a snog. Of course, I'd love to take you away and ravish you, but I think we'll have to wait a while for that."

"Mmmm, I'll take you up on that offer a little later," she said with a wink. "If you like, you could come into the kitchen with me. Maybe there will be a snogging opportunity there."

"Lead the way, Mrs. Potter," Harry said to her, sounding a little choked up.

She stood on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I love the sound of that."

"Mrs. Potter," Harry said.

She smiled at him and clasped his hand and they walked towards the kitchen door. Luckily it wasn't too far away, so they weren't stopped by any guests.

Inside the Burrow was much quieter than outside. She was about to pull Harry's head down towards hers, when she realised that they were not alone. Charlie and Mira were on the other side of the kitchen staring into each others eyes.

Ginny was just about to interrupt them when Harry gently tugged on her elbow. She looked at him and he shook his head. He led her away, into the quiet sitting room where he pulled her straight into his arms and claimed her mouth with his. A while later they pulled away from each other enough to gaze into each other's eyes.

"Mmm, I can't wait to take you home, Mrs. Potter," Harry said with a wink.

She snuggled into his chest and sighed. "I can't wait for you to do that, too," she replied.

"How long do you think we'll have to stay before we can sneak away?" he asked.

"Oh, I'd say a few more hours at the very least," said Charlie from the doorway. He was standing looking slightly flushed with his arm wrapped around Mira. He also had a twinkle in his eye. "What I'd really like to know is how you've managed to escape from the crowd for this long."

"It hasn't been that long," she replied.

"We'd have noticed if you had come through the kitchen, Gin," he said.

She and Harry started laughing at this.

"Oh, really?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. "You two weren't paying as much attention as you thought."

"Well, it's hard to pay attention to the outside world when you're staring into someone's eyes and about to snog them, Ginny," Harry said with a chuckle.

Mira blushed and tucked her head against Charlie's chest. Charlie just stared at them.

"You should be glad, Charlie," Harry continued. "Ginny was just about to interrupt. So I pulled her in here and kept her occupied."

Charlie raised his eyebrows at that but also laughed. "I'm sure that was a horrible task for you, Harry," he said.

"Oh, I survived," he replied.

Ginny chuckled. "So, Mira, I guess you've agreed to meet Charlie for drinks, then?" she asked.

"Actually, she hasn't quite agreed to that yet," Charlie said.

Mira looked up at him. "We haven't managed to talk a lot at all, have we, Charlie?" she said wiggling her eyebrows.

Charlie smiled back down at Mira. "I'm still working on tempting her."

"It sounds like you need more practise, then, brother dear," she said. "Do you need a demonstration?"

"NO!" he said. "I just had to watch you two. I don't need to see more."

Mira moved from Charlie's side towards her and Harry and hugged them both. "I haven't had a chance to congratulate you properly," she said. "That was a great surprise. I knew you were hiding something the other day, Ginny."

Ginny gave her a sneaky smile.

"I just didn't realise that it would be such a big one."

"I don't think we could have kept it for much longer," Harry said. "We both found it hard on Friday night not to accidentally say something."

"Thank Merlin we had Mum, Dad, and Charlie that knew," Ginny said. "That made things a little easier. Charlie was such a big help, too."

"And you've repaid me very well, Gin," he said, coming closer and putting his arm around Mira's shoulder.

Mira looked between the two siblings. "Do I want to know?" she asked a little warily.

Ginny smiled and winked at her friend. "Oh, I just told him how wonderful you are," she replied. "And gave him some hints on winning you over…"

"Thanks, Ginny," Charlie said with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks, Ginny," Mira said, before kissing Charlie on the cheek.

She flashed a smile at the pair of them.

Charlie turned his attention to Harry. "So, Harry, have you seen any nice…dragons, lately?" he asked with a smirk.

Harry returned his brother-in-law's smirk and threw in a wink, as well. "You know, Charlie, I just may have." He grabbed Charlie's arm and led him out of the house.

"What dragon?" Mira asked. "Where in the name of Helga has Harry seen a dragon around here?"

Ginny looked around and pulled her wand out from where it was hidden in her dress, much to Mira's amusement. She set some Silencing and Warning Charms before revealing her tattoo to Mira.

"Oh…that is amazing," she said as she ran her finger over Ginny's shoulder. "I thought you said that Harry was going to get the Horntail."

"I was hoping so, but I needed to do something a little drastic after Christmas."

"You achieved that, then," said Mira. She then looked at Ginny intently. "Is this what turned the tables on Harry?"

She smirked. "I sent him a photo of it. It apparently affected him quite a bit."

Mira laughed quite loudly. "I'm sure it did!"

"So much so that he had to go and fire some spells around for an hour or so," she said.

Mira kept laughing and was making small snorting noises. "Harry likes it, then?" she asked after she calmed down.

"Oh, Harry _loves_ it," she said, before waving her wand around the room and over her shoulder, muttering the Concealment Charms. She then led Mira towards the door. "I'd better get back out there."

Once outside she was ambushed by Callie, Gwenog, and the rest of the Harpy girls. They seemed to be having an absolute ball, cheering and gossiping. They had their glasses full and their empty plates were off to the side. Three of the girls, Katrina, Meagan, and Bianca, were standing staring across the yard and whispering to each other. Ginny looked at where the girls were looking to see Oliver Wood talking with Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle.

"Oh, you're not looking at Oliver, girls. _Please_!" she stated.

"Why not?" Katrina asked. "What's wrong with Oliver?"

"There's nothing wrong with him," said Bianca. "Look at him!"

Gwenog shook her head and groaned. "These girls!"

"There's no harm in looking, Gwenog," said Katrina.

"He's our opposition," Gwenog stated.

"Plus, we have no chance. Look at that girl he's talking to," said Meagan.

"She's part Veela," Ginny said.

The three girls threw their hands in the air and groaned.

"Ginny, point out the single men, would you?" said Bianca.

"Are all of your brothers taken?" asked Meagan. "I always fancied Bill and Charlie when I was at Hogwarts."

Ginny smiled. "They're all taken. And I'm not sure who's single. I've been away, remember?"

"Oh, we'll just have to go back to staring at Ollie, then," said Katrina.

Ginny groaned inwardly and thought of Katie, who would have undoubtedly seen Oliver and Gabrielle talking. She made her excuses to her teammates and headed over to the Gryffindor Quidditch girls.

"Ah, here she is," said Angelina as Ginny approached them.

She was bombarded by kisses and hugs from her school Quidditch friends.

"Well, that was some secret you were keeping," said Alicia with a strange look that Ginny didn't particularly like.

She looked at Alicia for a few moments. Of the three girls, Alicia was the one to whom she was the least close. She had often seen her looking at her with looks that weren't particularly pleasant. Sometimes she wondered if Alicia liked Harry a little more than everyone thought.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise. I'm sure you can understand that," she said eventually.

Angelina wrapped her arm around Ginny's shoulders. "We do, and don't worry about Alicia. She's a little grumpy today for some reason."

Ginny nodded and turned to Katie. "How's it going, Katie? Having fun?"

Katie looked at her and nodded. Ginny could tell that Katie wasn't happy with whom Oliver was talking. She moved closer to Katie and talked to her quietly.

"Don't pay them any attention. She's only sixteen and lives in France," she said, trying to reassure her friend. "She's just visiting Bill and Fleur at the moment. She won't be around for long."

Katie nodded glumly. Ginny and Angelina exchanged glances and they both moved over to the table to get some glasses of champagne.

"Both rays of sunshine, they are," Angelina said as they were walking.

Ginny laughed.

"I can understand why Katie is upset, but what Alicia's problem is, I have no idea," Angelina continued.

"I think I do," Ginny said. "Alicia likes Harry."

Angelina stopped and looked at Ginny with her eyebrows raised. "What?"

Ginny nodded.

"I guess that makes sense. She does talk about him a lot and she was really eager to see him today. I guess she thought today was her big chance with you out of the picture, so to speak," Angelina said.

"And now she's a little annoyed," Ginny said.

"Well, she'll just have to get over it then, won't she?" Angelina said. "And to do that we'll have to get a few more of these into them so that they lighten up a little."

Ginny smiled at George's girlfriend. They walked back to the other two girls and passed over the drinks. Ginny stayed with them and chatted away with them as they shared a few more drinks. They were eventually joined by Mira, Luna, Hermione, and Hannah. Having a few more girls to talk to and laugh with seemed to help Katie and Alicia relax.

A while later Harry came over and slid his arm around Ginny's waist while she was talking. Ginny surreptitiously looked at Alicia when Harry appeared and was pleased to see that apart from a quick glance in their direction, Alicia did not seem bothered.

"I'm sorry to break this up, girls," Harry said once she had finished talking. "But I would love to dance with my wife."

Ginny smiled at him and ignored the other girls' laughter. Harry looked away from her to the others.

"What?" he asked.

"You're actually wanting to dance," Hermione stated.

"Yes, what happened to the boy who hated dancing at the Yule Ball?" asked Angelina.

"And at Slughorn's Christmas party," added Luna.

"He was just missing one thing," Ginny said.

"What's that?" Hannah asked.

"Me!" she said with a laugh.

While the girls groaned she let Harry lead her away towards a cleared area. Nearby was a wireless ready to play some music for them, and as soon as they were alone in the clearing, Charlie started the music.

Harry pulled her into his arms and she laid her head against his shoulder and sighed. They started swaying together, hardly listening to the music.

"Happy Birthday, Gin," Harry whispered in her ear. "I hope it has been the happiest of them all."

She leaned back and looked up at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thanks. It has been," she said with a smile. "And thank you for my present. They are beautiful."

Harry gently touched the earrings and necklace. "I thought you would like them and they go beautifully with your dress."

"They do," she whispered. "I love you, Harry."

"I love you, too, Ginny," he said, brushing a kiss against her temple.

She rested her head back against his shoulder and they continued to dance, barely realising that there were many other couples dancing around them.

A long time later, Harry and Ginny managed to stop dancing so that they could cut their cake. After they had fed each other slices of the delicious cake, they managed to get away from everyone and find her mum and dad.

"Mum, we're going to disappear," she said with a small blush.

Her mum gave her a slightly knowing look but nodded.

"Take the chance while you're alone then," Molly said.

Harry gave her mum a big hug and then turned to shake her dad's hand but was pulled into a hug by him.

"Look after her, Harry," Arthur said emotionally.

"I will, Dad," he said with a smile. He turned to her mother. "Thanks for everything, Mum. You two have done such a great job helping us."

Tears started sliding down her mum's cheeks and she pulled them both into another hug.

"Are you heading off on a holiday?" her dad asked.

Ginny turned to look at Harry. He had not mentioned where or when they were going.

"Yes," he said with a cheeky smile. "We're heading off tomorrow for two weeks."

"Are we?" she asked. "Where?"

"Ah, that's a surprise, my lovely wife," he said with a cheeky grin. "You'll find that out tomorrow."

She groaned dramatically and her parents and Harry laughed.

"You had better head off," her dad said, "before anyone comes looking for you. We'll give everyone your goodbyes and thanks."

"Thanks," they said together.

"Have fun. We'll see you when you get back," her mum said before hugging and kissing them again.

Harry then took her hand and lead her away. She turned to look at her parents and the Burrow as she walked away. At the edge of the property they Apparated home.

"Right, time to make good on that promise," she said as they walked towards their home.

Harry looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Ravish me!"

He lifted her up and carried her over the threshold as quickly as he could.

* * *

Extra Note: There are a couple of implied pairings in this that have come from my fab beta mew and a friend of hers, who have a collection of wierd pairings, so I thought I'd better give their community a plug: **"Mew and Mor's Weird Pairings"** Check it out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **All right then! Here is the final chapter – a nice happy chapter to finish it off. I was initially intending to write the honeymoon as part of this story but have since decided that I will write it at a later date as a separate story and (hopefully) do it justice. A few other ideas for stories have emerged from this as well – keep a look out!

A mammoth thank you goes to mew-tsubaki for her wonderful and helpful beta work, and for giving me lots to laugh at when I'm reading the corrections.

Also, a huge thanks to all of the wonderful readers who have stuck with me through this story and have left lovely reviews. I hope you enjoy the last bit.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Harry looked around, checking that everything was organised. Kreacher and Ginny had been busy all morning getting the food ready for today's Weasley Family Sunday lunch. He and Ginny had been back from their honeymoon for two weeks, and they had decided to host the lunch so that everyone could see their home.

Their honeymoon had been extremely relaxing. They had spent a lot of the days exploring the island where they stayed, as well as relaxing on the beach. The island had been extremely peaceful and it had been a blessing that there were no other wizards or witches around to annoy them. The only attention they had received that he'd disliked was the attention that Ginny's bikini had attracted from other male hotel guests.

He had returned to work a week after they had gotten home and had told Kingsley that he would only go on missions now if it were necessary. Kingsley agreed with his decision and had actually said that Harry had been on enough missions over the past few years that would equal a normal Auror's mission-load for at least five years. Plus, being the Head of the department meant that Kingsley would prefer him to be in the office controlling things. Harry was quite happy with that.

Ginny had returned to training around the same time that he had gone back to work. She had told him that apart from a little teasing from the other girls, training had been going well. In fact, she had said that she was so happy that she was on top of her game and could not wait for their first game so that she could show off her new surname on her Quidditch robes.

Their marriage was not widely known. There had been no reports in any of the wizarding papers or magazines. They had not asked their wedding guests to keep their news secret, but it seemed that they had not gone out of their way to make huge announcements about it, either. Harry imagined that it would come out soon enough, definitely after Ginny's first game of the season.

"What are you thinking about?" Ginny asked from behind him.

He broke free from his thoughts and turned to face her.

"Oh, I'm just thinking about things just now, how good life is at the moment," he replied.

Ginny smiled at him and walked up to him and slid her arms around his waist. In return, he enclosed her in his arms and laid his cheek on her head.

"Mmm, things are good, aren't they," she agreed. "I'm so happy, Harry."

"Me, too, Gin," he replied. He lifted his head up and looked down into her brown, brown eyes. "After the past two years, we deserve this."

She nodded in agreement and stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He was tempted to keep on kissing her but did not think that was how he should go about greeting everyone on their first visit to their home.

"Do you think they're all there, ready to leave?" she asked.

Harry glanced at the clock. "Well, the Portkey will leave in about fifteen minutes, so I imagine they'll all be sitting in the kitchen of the Burrow waiting impatiently."

Ginny laughed. "That was a clever way of getting them past the Fidelius Charm, and it means we don't have to Side-Along Apparate everyone here."

"It's just one of the benefits of being Head of the Auror department," he said. "The message sharing our address will appear just before the Portkey activates, so it saves us a lot of work."

Ginny kissed him again. "Very clever. Now you can help me take all of this outside for when they arrive."

He and Kreacher helped Ginny take all the food and drinks out into the sunny garden, where he had earlier set up some tables and chairs for everyone. Once that was done he and Ginny sat together on a deck chair and waited for everyone to arrive.

A little while later they noticed a blue light appear just near the front gate, and then a whole crowd appeared on the lawn. Harry watched with amusement as their guests regained their balance and looked around to see where they were.

"Oh, my!" Molly exclaimed. "What a beautiful spot."

"Thanks, Mum," Harry replied.

All of their guests turned to face them where they were lounging.

"Merlin, Harry," said Ron with a groan. "Why do we always have to see you two wrapped up together?"

Harry laughed in reply and then when Ron was slapped by Hermione and his mother he laughed even harder.

"If you _must_ know, Ronald, we were just sitting here waiting patiently for you," Ginny said. "We have much more self-control than that."

Both George and Ron raised their eyebrows at their sister's comment but must have decided it would be safer not to comment as Ginny's wand was being twirled in her hand.

Harry stood up and pulled his wife up to join him. They walked hand-in-hand over to greet everyone.

"Welcome," he said with a smile. "This is Six Phoenix Path, where I've been since the end of last year. I thought we'd give you a quick tour inside, have lunch, then check out and test what I've had done out back."

He and Ginny showed everyone around their house. Molly and Andromeda admired the kitchen and the living areas, while Fleur gave decorating tips to Ginny on the room they eventually planned to use as a nursery. Hermione and Percy were reluctant to leave Harry's study, which was full of books he had found in Grimmauld Place, as well others Harry had acquired over the years. Charlie stayed with Harry's owl, Aesir, giving him a lot of affection. Arthur was taking in all of the paintings on the wall, while Ron, George, and Bill were discussing the photos, which were all over the house. Angelina, Mira, and Audrey chatted with each other beside the window that looked over the front yard.

Harry's breath hitched when he spied Ginny walking about their house with Teddy grasping her hand. Teddy was looking up adoringly at his Aunt Ginny and had changed his hair to a similar shade of red. Harry got a flash-forward to when their child would be running through the house, probably chasing after his godson.

After the tour, everyone moved out to the front lawn where the tables and chairs were set up. After doing justice to Kreacher and Ginny's cooking efforts, they all relaxed on the grass or on the chairs. Harry sat with his wife leaning against him. The other couples were lounging in similar ways, including Molly and Arthur. Teddy and Victoire were chasing each other around the lawn.

"I'm sorry to interrupt the peace and quiet, but I really need to tell you lot something," Ginny said from her place against Harry.

Harry saw Molly sit up and look at him and Ginny expectantly. Before he could say anything, Ginny groaned and he imagined that she was also rolling her eyes.

"No, Mum, we are not expecting a baby," Ginny said. "And don't expect one for a while yet."

Everyone laughed, including Molly.

Bill then sat up and looked a little nervous. He quickly looked at Fleur and then took a breath before speaking. "Don't worry, Mum. I've got some good news for you on that front. Fleur's pregnant. So you do have another grandchild on the way."

Molly squealed and moved with the speed and agility of someone half her age to her eldest son and his wife and engulfed them both in a huge hug. At the same time everyone else was offering them their congratulations.

Once Molly had calmed down, Percy gave a little cough. "Um, I have something to tell you all, too."

Ginny sat up in front of him, a little surprised. Harry was a bit surprised, too. Percy had told Ginny about his engagement to Audrey at their wedding. He presumed that everyone else knew, so he could not imagine what Percy's news could be.

"I asked Audrey to marry me and she said yes," Percy revealed.

Molly squealed again and did the same athletic movements as before but this time towards Percy and Audrey.

"Percy, you..." Ginny started.

Percy sent her a glare that stopped her words immediately. It was the same look that Ginny and her mother could make. Harry found it quite strange to see it from Percy.

"We were actually going to tell you all a while ago, but we didn't want to upstage Ginny and Harry's wedding day," Audrey said.

"You've been engaged that long?" Molly asked.

"We wanted to tell the whole family together and this has been the first chance," Percy replied.

"You could have told everyone at our wedding, we wouldn't have minded," Ginny said.

"I know. I did tell Percy that," Audrey said.

"Yes, but by that stage Ginny and Harry had disappeared," Percy said.

Everyone chuckled. Harry pulled Ginny close to him and kissed her ear. "Mmm. It was definitely worthwhile making them wait," he whispered in his wife's ear.

Ginny chuckled and turned her head to kiss him.

At the same time Ron groaned. "Don't you two ever stop?"

Harry stared at his best mate. "We've got two years to make up for, you realise."

"Get used to it, dear brother," Ginny said. "You realise, that instead of groaning you should be doing the same with Hermione."

More laughter ensued at this. Ron and Hermione turned violent shades of red.

"I'm heading back to Romania soon," Charlie said from his place on the grass. "I've asked Mira to come with me."

No squeals were heard at that statement. Molly looked a little worried. Harry knew she wouldn't be overly happy if Charlie and Mira moved that quickly in their relationship. Ginny looked as though she were trying to have a wordless conversation with her friend.

"I have to get back to my job, or I might not have one at all," Charlie said. "Mira's staying here, though. She wants to be near her family for now."

Harry could tell that Charlie wasn't too happy about that and he couldn't blame him. Being separated from Ginny for so long had been hell. He hoped that Charlie and Mira could handle it.

Mira was looking a little upset, too "We're not breaking up," she said, perhaps more to Charlie than to the gathered group. "It's just too..._early_ for me to go with him. And I do want to be around my family right now. So we'll keep in touch and see how it goes." She finished by patting the back of Charlie's hand reassuringly.

"Will you be happy with that?" Arthur asked his second son.

"Yes," Charlie replied. He clasped Mira's hand. "We'll be fine."

"Goodness me, it has been an afternoon for surprises," said Andromeda.

"That it has," Ginny said.

"All right," said George, standing up. "I have another one for you."

"Really?" quite a few of the crowd asked, including Angelina.

George pulled Angelina to her feet and then dropped to one knee in front of her. Everyone gasped. Angelina laughed as she looked down at him.

"You're not…?" Angelina asked.

"No, I'm not," George said, sighing and pulling a box from his pocket. "I guess I'll take this lovely, sparkly ring back to the shop."

Angelina threw herself at George, trying to take the box out of his hand. They both ended up on the ground. "Oh no, you don't!" she said.

Harry was highly amused by their antics. Leave it to George to do things more unconventionally and relaxed than everyone else. Luckily for George, Angelina would not expect anything different, Harry thought.

"So, that's a yes, then?" George asked.

"If you pass me that box it will be," Angelina said, still reaching for the box that George was holding out of her reach.

George pretended to deliberate for a while and then shrugged and tossed the box to Angelina. Angelina opened it, gasped, and then started snogging George.

"Merlin!" Ron exclaimed.

"Aren't you even going to ask her properly?" Molly asked, looking a little dismayed.

At that point Victoire and Teddy appeared and joined the adults on the grass.

"What dey doin'?" Victoire asked, her eyes bright and shining, her words as concise as any newly-speaking toddler's, as she pointed at George and Angelina.

"George and Angelina are going to get married," Bill explained to his daughter.

"Oh!" the youngest Weasley replied. "I marry Nebil."

"What?" asked Fleur.

"I goin' to marry Nebil," Victoire repeated determinedly.

Harry chuckled and so did many of the others. Neville had really won over Victoire, it seemed.

"I don't think so, honey," Bill said to his daughter. "He's too old for you. Why don't you marry Teddy?"

"NO!" yelled Teddy, looking very worried. "I don't want to get married. Grandma, I don't have to get married, do I? Uncle Harry, I don't want to marry Victoire."

The gathered group were roaring with laughter at the two children. Andromeda was reassuring Teddy that he didn't have to get married until he was ready and Fleur was holding Victoire, who was crying and muttering "Nebil" every so often.

"So does anyone else have any news to share?" Charlie asked.

Harry looked at Ron. All of the other Weasley brothers had shared some exciting news one way or another, so it was almost necessary that Ron shared some, too. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed. "Nothing new here."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, laughing at his friend's predicament.

"We're already engaged," Ron stated. "And Hermione's not pregnant."

"Good," Molly said.

Everyone looked at Molly.

"They should wait until they're married," Molly said.

At that, they all nodded and kept staring at Ron.

Ron sighed. "There's no news. Work is the same, home is the same, and nothing is new for Hermione," he said and then turned to his parents. "What about you two, Mum and Dad?"

"Actually…," said Arthur slowly.

Harry looked at his father-in-law curiously. It was not often that Arthur made grand announcements. The others were looking curiously at him, too. Molly was looking just as curious as everyone else.

"I'm thinking of taking Molly on a holiday. I have a lot of leave owing and I think it's time we had a break."

"Oh, Arthur," said Molly. "Where are we going? When?"

"That's entirely up to you, my love," Arthur said.

"I'll take you to the travel agent tomorrow, Mum," Ginny said. "You can take a heap of brochures and decide from that."

Molly grasped Ginny's hand in thanks and then kissed her husband.

"Right," said Charlie, clapping is hands together. "That's enough family news. What have you got hidden out back…"

"Hey!" Ginny exclaimed. "I have news. I was the first one with something to say, but I was interrupted by Bill…then Percy and Charlie and George, then Ron and finally Dad."

"Our hearts bleed for you, Gin-Gin," said Charlie.

Harry felt Ginny's body stiffen with anger at Charlie's words and the use of one of her least favourite nicknames.

"What's your news, Ginny?" Angelina asked from where she was sitting in George's lap with his arms wrapped around her.

"It's nothing too exciting, but our first game is on the twelfth and I'd really like you all there," she said.

Harry hugged her closely. He knew she was nervous about her first game at home in over two years and there would be a lot of attention once the press and crowd spotted her new name on her jersey.

"Sorry, Gin," said Charlie. "I'll be stuck over there for a month at least until I can manage even a short trip back."

Ginny nodded. Harry knew it was quite difficult for Charlie to get home regularly. Luckily, everyone else said they would be at the game, and this seemed to keep Ginny happy.

"And on that note, it's time to head out to the back paddock," Harry said.

They all stood up and Harry led them all out behind the house to the paddock, which was partially hidden from the house. While he and Ginny were on their honeymoon, Kreacher had finished off the Quidditch pitch and broom shed. As they rounded the small grove of trees, there was a gasp from Ron, Charlie, and George.

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Ron.

"Harry, you're my favourite brother," Charlie said as he slapped him on the back. "This is the best backyard Quidditch pitch I've ever seen."

Harry laughed at Charlie's comment and the fact that none of the other Weasley boys remarked on Charlie's statement. They were too busy looking at the pitch in front of them.

"What about brooms?" George asked, looking slightly panicked.

"I'll go and get them," Ron said and he started walking away from the gathered group.

"No, it's okay, Ron," Ginny said. "We have some brooms in the shed over there."

"Enough for everyone?" asked Bill a little dubiously.

Ginny smiled cheekily. "Sure do. Though some aren't top-line ones. I came back from Australia with a heap of training brooms, recreational brooms, plus my game ones."

"You're my favourite sister, Gin," Charlie said with a laugh.

"Technically, I'm you're only sister," she replied. "But thank you for adoring me none the less."

Harry walked over to the shed and started handing out brooms to everyone who wanted to fly. Lastly he grabbed his new Nimbus and Ginny's favourite Cleansweep and they joined the group in the air. Everyone except for Molly, Andromeda, Fleur, Victoire, and Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon playing Quidditch. It was a fun afternoon as they kept changing the teams around, though Harry usually found himself on the opposing team to Ginny, as they were probably the two best fliers there, which made them a little more competitive than they would normally be for a Sunday afternoon game.

Late in the afternoon, their visitors started heading off to their respective homes. Eventually, Harry and Ginny found themselves alone again. They stood at the window overlooking the front lawn with their arms wrapped around each other.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she said tiredly. "But it's nice to be alone again."

Harry nuzzled against her neck. "Mmm hmm."

Ginny arched her neck, giving him better access to the sensitive areas around her collarbone.

"I've been wanting to do that all afternoon," Harry said as he kissed his way up her neck.

"I've been wanting you to do that, but my prat of a brother kept interrupting," she replied.

"That's probably a good thing, Gin," he said as his hands started to roam under her shirt. "I lose all control around you, you know."

"I guess we don't need them seeing that," she answered.

"No, we don't," he agreed just before his lips met hers.

"They're not here now," Ginny said a while later in a husky voice. Her hands were on his bum and they were pulling him closer to her, causing him to groan.

"Thank, Merlin," he said. "What would I do without you, Ginny? I'm so glad we're here together like this."

"Me, too, Harry," she said, "Thank Godric you accepted all those gifts I sent."

"Thank Godric you sent them," he said before lowering his lips to hers again.

They stayed at the window for a long time. When they eventually pulled away there were beautiful pink colours in the sky outside that hadn't been there when they last looked out.

"I think the dragon is lost," Ginny said, suddenly pulling away from him. She started walking towards the stairs and looked over her shoulder at him. "Are you going to come and help me find it?" she asked saucily.

He groaned. How could he resist? All she had to do was mention the dragon and he was putty in her hands. He quickly reset the wards on the house and followed his wife upstairs.


End file.
